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Jak's Astoria Update #11

Eyrie Peak

~Adventure Path~

Celebii151: With the impending threat of attacks from Team Plasma Dr. Astrid recruits you to help defend the Research Center. "That's wonderful of you to help," she responds to you. Suddenly she stops running. She turns around to face the trees once again. "Primeape! I beg of you to protect the Pokémon here if you see any Team Plasma member in here!" She continues running until the both of you are at the door leading into the Center. "We're at the entrance to the Research Center. Once we enter I'll seal this door shut, so no one from Team Plasma can get in to the Pokémon play area." She watches you, Nahkriin, and her Magneton enter, and she follows. The door closes, and she enters a code on the number pad near it to seal it shut. "There. By the way, your Druddigon is very impressive. She'll be a big help. The East Wing is this way. Please follow me," she motions with her arm showing you the way.

"Just so you know what you're fighting for," Astrid begins to speak as you both hasten down the hall towards the East Wing, "this lab does test on Pokémon. Without going into too much detail, we test remedies on Pokémon that are made more naturally. The normal remedies; Antidotes, Burn Heals, and others; are manmade. While they work perfectly fine, we are looking for something more natural, especially in areas like the Unova region where berries normally are not found. We're testing new remedies made from berries that cure the same ailments. Regrettably the only real way to test these remedies is to cause the ailments Poison, Paralyze, Burn, Freeze, and Sleep. Other than that the lab is completely safe. There are dozens of Pokémon doctors on hand on any given day, so that if anything does go wrong help is not far away at all.”

The pair and their Pokémon reach a closed door. “As you’ve probably guessed,” Astrid continues, “Team Plasma doesn’t like that the Pokémon are inflicted with the different conditions. Normally they protest and question the employees of the Research Center. I don’t know why they are attacking. They should know this is causing unnecessary stress on the monkey Pokémon.” She begins to enter her security code to open the door. “This is the entrance to the East Wing. There’s another short hallway, and then there’s the cafeteria. There are a few offices along the way. I just want to investigate them to make sure they’re secure.” The door opens. Astrid and Magneton enter the hallway and begin checking out rooms. You happen to peek through an office window to see an impeccably clean office.

All of a sudden you both hear an explosion coming from not too far from you. “They must be in the cafeteria!” You both race to the door to the cafeteria. “Please be careful, both of you,” she warns you as she opens the door.

You look inside to see utter chaos. Along the back wall you see people in black and grey uniforms with shield emblems on their chest along with their Pokémon. They’re all short bladed red Pokémon with a large blade on their head, which also resembles a helmet. All of their Pawniard are attacking the doctors’ and researchers’ own Pokémon in front of you. As you and Nahkriin and Astrid and Magneton enter the cafeteria the doctors and researchers notice you all, and most of them gasp at Nahkriin. Astrid and Magneton run in and lend a hand, or magnet, “Magneton hold them in place with Thunder Wave!” Tendrils of electricity emit from the magnets of the Magnet Pokémon and grab onto three of the Pawniard holding them in place.

“Machop, Karate Chop that Pawniard!” you hear a researcher say.

“Go Hitmonlee, use Rolling Kick!” another researcher orders.

“Elekid, use Cross Chop on the other one!” a doctor orders.

You watch the three Pokémon attack the paralyzed Pawniard, and one by one easily they fall.

“You with Dr. Astrid?” you hear a man ask you. “I’m Joshua her assistant. Thanks for helping us! And sorry for dragging you into this mess at the same time.” Joshua jumps out of the way of an advancing Pawniard. “Electrode, use Rollout!” A large red and white spherical Pokémon rolls by knocking it over.

Suddenly, four Pawniard rush Joshua and Electrode, overwhelming the Ball Pokémon. One of the Pawniard, however, pays for its assault by becoming paralyzed by Electrode’s Static ability. “If you don’t mind, Electrode and I could use a hand here,” Joshua calls out. Now might be good time to lend a hand, or claw.

What will you do?

-------------------------------------------------------

OOC: Due to an oversight on my part, I just discovered Osage had been holding an Ice Gem. I'm not sure for how long, but it will be used up in this update.Charminions: The addition of Mightyena to the fold certainly made for an inconvenient situation. After surviving a collision of Thunderpunch and Ice Beam, you decided to incapacitate it in order to keep moving on your mission. The Mightyena fired a barrage of small Shadow Balls at both Osage and Pigkey.

Pigkey dodges the Shadow Balls and, by your orders, leaps at Mightyena and attaches herself to its face swiping furiously at the Bite Pokémon’s eyes. Mightyena shook and flailed about in pain trying to throw Pigkey off. When that never happened, Mightyena was able to sense where one of Pigkey’s legs was, and it did what Mightyena do best and crunched down on her leg with its fangs. Pigkey screams out in pain, and she immediately jumps off Mightyena. Luckily for her, she had gotten many good scratches in, and she succeeded in temporarily blinding the Bite Pokémon.

Nidoran makes another attempt at scratching Osage, but Osage is just too quick for her. He runs in with both claws charged with ice energy. The clear Ice Gem he wears glows and breaks up, and the energy contained inside flows into one of his fists. He throws his first punch, which appeared to be much more powerful than usual thanks to the power of the gem. Nidoran takes the first punch and finally the second, although the second is not at as powerful as the first. Nevertheless, she’s thrown off her feet. As much as she tries to get up, she just cannot. Nidoran lay on the ground, fainted from her injuries. Osage gains one level!

Seeing the Poison Pin Pokémon on the ground, Pigkey turns her already thundery charged fist on Mightyena. It never saw the attack coming, and it took the full force of the punch. The stored electricity also paralyzes the canine; it won’t be going anywhere for a little while.

With both foes taken care of for the time being, Pigkey picks up the scent of the berries. When she gets your attention once more, she points in the direction you should be heading.

What will you do?

--------------------------------------------------------

OkikuMew: With the Black Apricorns secured in the box, you move on to find your next group of Apricorn trees. Max leads the way, with your suggestion, to the left. You pass by more Black Apricorn trees, and you can see that some birds have taken nest within some of the trees. You see some Tranquill, who watch as you pass by. In another tree nearby you see a Staravia making a nest with some grass and twigs it found.

Eventually the Black Apricorns give way to Pink Apricorns, and you keep walking along the path. The number of Black Apricorn trees seems to outnumber the Pink ones, since you only see a few rows of them. All kinds of bird Pokémon fly around; some to see who has invaded their territory, some looking for food. Out of the corner of your eye you notice a Pidgeotto flying by, seemingly following you.

By the time you discover the Yellow Apricorn trees, the Pidgeotto that was circling you previously returned to its nest. For some reason, there are even fewer trees with Yellow Apricorns; in fact, you only count four nearby. You immediately start on the nearest tree to you. There are a few choices in this tree, all of which involve some climbing. Luckily the tree looks as though it can be easily climbed. There are two that are on different sides of the tree, but they are hanging near some large sturdy branches. The last one, for this tree, is much higher.

What will you do?

Special Instructions – It’s that time again. Once again, this is just a better way to help me decide how to proceed. Also, with these questions, there are definitely more than one possible answer. Please answer with either English or Japanese names where applicable.

1. If it were possible to use one now, which Pokémon would be an easy catch, using a Moon Ball?

2. Name two trainers from the anime who, given their rosters, would have benefited most from a Moon Ball.

3. If the effects of the Moon Ball were ever expanded to include Pokémon who have any kind of relevance to the moon, name two Pokémon who would likely be included.
------------------------------------------------------

The Mystic Jungle

~Forgotten Ruins~

Allishinca: Knowing you weren’t going to face your doom at the hands of Beheeyem, you thought for a moment if you really wanted to continue with the challenge. Pluto was certainly looking forward to it. You wondered, though, just how mentally stable this Cerebral guardian was. To be safe you took some notes in your notebook about the encounter.

Telepathically you hear, “I can assure you, my dear, that although I am admittedly lonely, I am quite sane. Oh, and yes I am a telepath.” Its message startled you a bit, but nevertheless, you and Pluto continue on in the temple for the next challenge.

You both enter the hallway and start walking down it. With the hall already fully lit your mind is a little more at ease. Immediately walking in, you feel a wave of warmth; and as you continue walking the air gets even warmer. In the distance you can start to make out the next room. It’s giving off an orange glow, and it makes you wonder if the walls are still white or if they’re orange. You hear the door behind you rumble to a close, and because of that, it gets a little warmer now. As you make your way closer to the next room, the orange glow begins to flicker a little. When you finally enter the room, you can see that the walls look like they’re on fire. The heat isn’t as intense as you would expect, but it is warm in the room. There is no smoke filling the room either. In the far corner, Pluto alerts you to a skeleton lying on the ground.

“Splendid!” Beheeyem yells out with a snap it also appears. “I’m so glad you could join me here. Let’s get the lights,” Beheeyem looks around. “Oops I must have left them on from the last challenge.” All of a sudden you hear the door behind you slowly close shut. “Don’t worry, you won’t suffocate,” there’s a pause in its voice. “At least I don’t think you will.” Beheeyem looks around the room and spots the skeleton. “Don’t mind him.” Beheeyem waves its hand at the skeleton, and it disappears. “So, what brings you here?” It tilts its head sideways at you waiting for an answer, but before you could answer. “That’s right you’re in the middle of a challenge.” Beheeyem thinks for a moment. “Try this one.

I like it extremely cold,
and I signal heavy snow.
I live on snow and ice.
Living together we're nice.
If I live with you, your home will grow.

“Once again, just yell it out. I’m out of here; it’s way too warm!” Beheeyem disappears with that familiar snap.

What will you do?

----------------------------------------------------------

~Waterfall Valley~

Myrrh: Introductions with the new bystander would have to wait as the battle with the relentless Pond Skater nears its end. The BubbleBeam attack, now floating through the air, was easily dodged by Volts as he begins to dig underground. Whether this was a more clever way to dodge or just an attack, Surskit does get out of the way in time; as Volts pops out of the ground expecting to knock what little health remains out of the bug.

“Oh, you were so close!” the bystander remarks disappointed. “Are you going to try catching it?”

Surskit jumps in the air spinning, once again firing glowing stars towards Volts. “My, what an interesting use of Swift,” he says.

The stars pelt the ground around Volts, causing very little damage. The EleSquirrel Pokémon begins charging towards Surskit with his tail charging, glowing silver. Surskit, standing there shaking on its four legs, prepares for the hit by blowing a single bubble. With his tail fully charged, Volts leaps and swings it like an iron crowbar at Surskit popping the bubble and also knocking Surskit back slamming into a tree.

“Wow that was sure strong!” says the bystander. “It looks like that was it for Surskit.” You and Volts both look over at Surskit who is lying on the ground knocked out. Volts, the Pachirisu gains a level!

“By the way, my name is Aubrey,” he extends his hand to shake yours. “I came out here to get some contest training done and perhaps to catch a new Pokémon for my team. You are?”

The Surskit stirs and tries to stand up, but in the end it can’t.

What will you do?

OOC: If I were more consistent with my updates this would have happened before Halloween, so it’s not an issue. But please do try to think of a way to introduce him recolored. Let me know if you need help, and I’ll see what I can do with the story. An idea just popped in my mind about how it could happen.

Myrrh: Introductions with the new bystander would have to wait as the battle with the relentless Pond Skater nears its end. The BubbleBeam attack, now floating through the air, was easily dodged by Volts as he begins to dig underground. Whether this was a more clever way to dodge or just an attack, Surskit does get out of the way in time; as Volts pops out of the ground expecting to knock what little health remains out of the bug.

“Oh, you were so close!” the bystander remarks disappointed. “Are you going to try catching it?”

Surskit jumps in the air spinning, once again firing glowing stars towards Volts. “My, what an interesting use of Swift,” he says.

The stars pelt the ground around Volts, causing very little damage. The EleSquirrel Pokémon begins charging towards Surskit with his tail charging, glowing silver. Surskit, standing there shaking on its four legs, prepares for the hit by blowing a single bubble. With his tail fully charged, Volts leaps and swings it like an iron crowbar at Surskit popping the bubble and also knocking Surskit back slamming into a tree.

“Wow that was sure strong!” says the bystander. “It looks like that was it for Surskit.” You and Volts both look over at Surskit who is lying on the ground knocked out. Volts, the Pachirisu gains a level!

“By the way, my name is Aubrey,” he extends his hand to shake yours. “I came out here to get some contest training done and perhaps to catch a new Pokémon for my team. You are?”

The Surskit stirs and tries to stand up, but in the end it can’t.

What will you do?

OOC: If I were more consistent with my updates this would have happened before Halloween, so it’s not an issue. But please do try to think of a way to introduce him recolored. Let me know if you need help, and I’ll see what I can do with the story. An idea just popped in my mind about how it could happen.

It seemed that now Myrrh had a spectator watching the battle between Volts and Surskit along with him. At least it wasn't a crowd of people or anything. Volts had just missed with its Dig attack when the spectator offered a bit of commentary.

“Oh, you were so close!” Myrrh simply said "Damn..." under his breath. The spectator added, “Are you going to try catching it?”

Without really turning to him to speak, Myrrh told him "Um, yeah, I guess I will. This Surskit seems really resilient and should be a good addition to my team. Plus, I haven't captured a wild pokemon before, so why not now?"

The two continued to watch the battle, though not much was left. Surskit's attacks didn't seem to pack anymore punch and it was unable to defend at all, which allowed Volts to smack it hard with its Iron Tail and send it flying to a tree.

“Wow that was sure strong! It looks like that was it for Surskit.” Exclaimed the spectator.

"YES! I think you're right, I think it's finally over." Myrrh finally directed his full attention to the spectator, seeing as the Surskit is unlikely to be going anywhere.

"My name is Aubrey,” he introduces himself and offers his hand to shake Myrrh's. “I came out here to get some contest training done and perhaps to catch a new Pokémon for my team. You are?”

Myrrh took his hand and then said, "Hello, my name is Myrrh. Sorry I wasn't paying that much attention to you earlier, this Surskit has been causing the both of us all kinds of grief. That over there is my Pachirisu, Volts. You don't have to move or anything if you want," He turned and said to his partner "you must be rather tired. So you're a contest coordinator, or whatever they are called? That's cool. Oh, I should go ahead and catch that Surskit huh? I wasn't too keen on capturing it, but the little bugger kinda grew on me during the battles..."

Myrrh took out a Pokeball (3rd out of 3 bought from the set, 3rd out of 13 total in inventory) tossed it at the Surskit, and hoped for the best.

Myahoo: You watched as Wildfire entered the fray. Being a fraction of Boldore's size, he wasn't doing too bad. He was able to land a couple hits and disorient the Ore Pokemon. The introductions between you and Chloe were brief, and she immediately began attending to your leg. Chloe momentarily left the battle in your hands as she began to wrap your leg with a make-shift splint. She ordered Wings to protect the frightened Pidove.

Boldore took the opportunity to knock out three birds with two stones, and blasted two rocks towards the trio of birds. Wings was prepared, though, and broke through the first rock with its Steel Wing attack. At the same it cried out, which seemed to cause the Pidove to wake up, and they were able to fly out of the way just in time. They flew up next to Wings. Wings spoke once more, and the Pidove both nodded.

Meanwhile, you had given your own orders to Wildfire to distract the strange colored Rock type. You secretly gave him instructions to lure Boldore into the lake. "That's a good idea, Melissa," Chloe remarked while she wrapped your leg. "That should weaken Boldore immensely." Wildfire understood your orders and ran off into battle. He ran up to Boldore and got between it and the birds. Immediately he began to blow smoke at it, setting up a screen to further reduce its accuracy. Looking proud of himself, Wildfire admired the cloud of smoke surrounding Boldore not moving. All of a sudden, from that very cloud of smoke a bright flash of light fired out from Boldore. The light cannon hit Wildfire knocking him off his feet, causing some damage, albeit not as much as others due to his typing.

With the first part of your plan in place, Wildfire began to work on the second part. He started focusing on the smoke screen trying to pick Boldore out in the haze. When he spotted enough of the Ore Pokemon to make a clear shot, his eyes glowed using extra senses to blast Boldore. The force of the psychic energy pushed Boldore back only a few feet due to its mass. This enraged Boldore, and it summoned numerous stones that orbitted along the edge of it. Boldore sprayed the stones in an arch at all of you. Wildfire was able to dodge the rocks that soared at him. Wings, seeing that you and Chloe weren't going to be moving very quickly, flew in front of you both and created a protective barrier between you and the rocks causing no damage to anyone behind the Staravia. The two Pidove, who didn't follow Wings, were in the path of a couple of the stones. All of a sudden a flash of white light entered the cavern speeding towards the Pidove. The third Pidove had returned to the cave. By summoning the power of the sky it attacked the stones destroying each one before they could strike either of the remaining Tiny Pigeons.

In a last effort to push Boldore towards the lake, Wildfire jumped in the air flipping his body while in the air arms stretched out. At the same time, his body glowed a pale green color summoning the power of nature to attack Boldore. This power summoned some nearby loose rocks to slide through the air sideways each pelting Boldore's armored body for damage, also pushing it further back to the lake edge.

At long last, Chloe finished attending to your leg. "I did the best I could," she started to explain. "Try standing on it; hopefully it won't hurt too much. I suggest you seek medical attention immediately." Chloe stood up and quickly surveyed the battlefield. "Look it's almost in the lake. If we combine our efforts, we may get it in there together." Wings and the three Pidove flew by and landed near the two ladies. "Ok Wings give it another Hidden Power (Water)."

What will you do?

Melissa smiled briefly at Chloe's remark, wincing a little as the other trainer continued to wrap up her leg. "Well, Wildfire's a lot smaller than that Boldore and you're at a type disadvantage and it's just sitting there, so I figured why not use it," the brunette replied, watching Wildfire's Smokescreen go up with a some satisfaction. At least, until Wildfire was blasted down by a Cannon's Flash. She winced in sympathy.

Wildfire then used Extrasensory, but that only enraged the Boldore, causing it to pull up Stones along the Edge of its personal bubble and then toss them towards her and Chloe. Melissa couldn't help her startled yelp, which caused Wildfire a moment's distraction as he glanced over to see what was going on. Thankfully, Chloe's Wings Protected them and Wildfire was able to refocus on the Boldore. Melissa, on the other hand, noticed when the third Pidove they'd found returned in a brilliant Attack from the Sky to protect its friends.

At the sound of a Rock Slide, though, she turned back to see Wildfire's Naturepower pushing the Boldore slowly towards the lake's edge. Simultaneously, Chloe finished wrapping Melissa's leg, saying, "I did the best I could. Try standing on it; hopefully it won't hurt too much. I suggest you seek medical attention immediately." Melissa bit back the first response that came to mind and thanked Chloe for the help before turning back to survey the field too. She absently nodded at Chloe's suggestion to combine their attacks, sorting through Wildfire's attacks to find one that would allow him to push the Boldore back without falling into the lake himself. Finally settling on a course of action, she said, "Alright, Wildfire. Let's Dig underneath it to try to destabilize the ground it's standing on. Then, once you pop out to hit it, use it as a springboard and Quick Attack back here, so you won't fall into the water." Her Cyndaquil shuddered at the mention of falling into the water and nodded vehemently. He did not want to be anywhere near that lake when his opponent entered it.

Jak's Astoria Update #12

Eyrie Peak

~Adventure Path~

Myahoo: The blue watery orbs of energy produced by Wings all pelt Boldore for some decent damage. Naturally, the Ore Pokémon would back up slowly while taking that damage, but it sensed it was getting dangerously close to the lake. It stopped backtracking just before falling in the lake.

After receiving his instructions, Wildfire ran out closer to Boldore, and began scratching and tearing at the ground, trying to dig his way to the alternate-colored Pokémon. Boldore, seeing how close its attackers were getting, started blasting rocks at Wings and Wildfire. Wildfire easily dodged, as he was almost fully underground by the time the attack found its way to him. Wings was able to dodge most of the rocks too, but one of them did strike him in the chest successfully knocking the Staravia back a couple yards.

Wings flew over by you and Chloe awaiting his next instructions from the intrepid trainer. “Wings, watch the ground for Wildfire to emerge. When he does,” she reached into her bag and removed a small red berry and tossed in the air near Wings, “use Natural Gift with this Chople Berry at the same time as Wildfire. Hopefully that will push Boldore far enough and into the pond. Wings caught the berry and nodded at Chloe.

The three Pidove, hearing Chloe’s and your plan, looked at each other, spoke briefly amongst each other, and they took flight as well also watching for Wildfire. Boldore, meanwhile, fired one rock at Wings, hoping it would smack the Starling Pokémon down to the ground. Wildfire emerged from his tunnel to attack Boldore, spinning in the air to strike feet first. Seeing this Wings munched on the Chople Berry quickly and started charging at Boldore, now beginning to glow an orangey color beaming with Fighting energy. Seeing this, the Pidove began flapping their wings rapidly sending strong gusts at the Ore Pokémon. When Wings and Wildfire both assault Boldore, one of the Pidove switch attacks from Gust to Air Cutter sending sharp wind blades at Boldore.

At the moment of impact with Boldore, Wildfire quickly leapt out of the way as if to begin an attack on another foe; but instead he returned to your side and hid by your feet. The force of all these attacks, knocked Boldore back just enough that it lost its footing, and finally, it fell into the lake.

“Finally,” Chloe exclaimed, “it’s over!” She watched Wings and the Pidove flying around the cavern in celebration. She turned to you, “Thank you for your help, Melissa. I’m sure the Pidove appreciate it too. If you’d like I can heal Wildfire’s injuries too. I’ll be tending to Wings,” she sat down on the rock next to you and took out her first aid kit. Wings flew over to the both of you and landed near Chloe. “What drew you to the cave anyway if you don’t mind me asking?”

Suddenly you started to hear a muffled rhythmic rumbling coming from the lake. Chloe sprang from her seat to see what was happening. The surface of the lake began to get choppy. By the fourth rumble, you could see what the cause was. Boldore was trying hard to get out of the lake. “It must be using Rock Blast to propel itself out! I can’t believe it’s still active,” Chloe said disappointed. With one last blast, Boldore burst out of the lake. It turned to face you and Chloe swaying back and forth. The gems began to glow gathering power. Before it could do anything, however, Boldore’s legs gave out; and it fell to the ground exhausted, passed out.

Seeing this opportunity, Chloe takes a black and white Pokeball with blue spots out of her backpack. She throws the Heavy Ball at Boldore to capture it. When the ball hit Boldore, it opened and absorbed the Ore Pokémon into its white light. The ball closed up and dropped to the ground shaking. Finally the capture mechanism dinged signaling to Chloe that the capture was successful. “Wow! I caught it,” she exclaimed.

The three Pidove, meanwhile, landed on the ground near you. Two of them were speaking to each other, and it sounded like they were having an argument. The third one looked at the other two, worried. Whatever the two of them were arguing about must have been upsetting to one of them because that Pidove became louder as the argument continued.

“What are they fighting about, I wonder?” Chloe asked while she was spraying a potion on Wings. “It’s starting to distract me.” She sprayed Wings a couple extra times on the chest where he took the Rock Blast attack, and then she was done. “Here, I can treat Wildfire for you then help you out of the cave if you’d like.”

What will you do?

------------------------------------------------------

The Mystic Jungle

~Waterfall Valley~

Myrrh: With the battle finally over, all that remained was the decision to capture the Surskit. After a quick chat with Aubrey about this decision, you choose to make the capture. You toss the Pokeball at Surskit, like most trainers would do, and the ball clicks open at contact with the Pond Skater. A light engulfs Surskit, who is then absorbed into the Pokeball. The ball shakes once.

“Hello, my name is Myrrh,” you turn to say to him. “Sorry I wasn’t paying that much attention to you earlier. This Surskit has been causing the both of us all kinds of grief.” The Pokeball shakes a second time.

“No worries mate. I’ve heard stories of the cave-dwelling Pokémon around here being a little mischievous and helpful at the same time. I was talking to another traveler who told me a Yanma brought her some fruit and berries after it caused a loose rock on a cliff to fall off and nearly crush her,” Aubrey explains. He looks over at the Pokeball you threw at Surskit.

“I think you got it,” Aubrey says in anticipation. The ball shakes one final time, and then you hear a ding. The Level 6 Female Surskit remains inside her Pokeball waiting for her new trainer to pick her up.

“Congratulations on your first capture!” he says to you. “I have a Surskit and Masquerain myself. They are wonderful in contests. Yes, I am a coordinator. Do you have any interest in contests?” He looks at Volts, “Your Pachirisu, I mean Volts, looks tired. If you’d like you can come rest at my camp for a little while. It’s just this way.”

You’ve been given a choice. Will you accompany Aubrey to his camp, or will you go your own way?

What will you do?

OOC – Congratulations on your capture! Once you reply to this update, you will have unlocked the Egg House for your use. Be sure to link to your reply when you go collect your first egg.

Myrrh: With the battle finally over, all that remained was the decision to capture the Surskit. After a quick chat with Aubrey about this decision, you choose to make the capture. You toss the Pokeball at Surskit, like most trainers would do, and the ball clicks open at contact with the Pond Skater. A light engulfs Surskit, who is then absorbed into the Pokeball. The ball shakes once.

“Hello, my name is Myrrh,” you turn to say to him. “Sorry I wasn’t paying that much attention to you earlier. This Surskit has been causing the both of us all kinds of grief.” The Pokeball shakes a second time.

“No worries mate. I’ve heard stories of the cave-dwelling Pokémon around here being a little mischievous and helpful at the same time. I was talking to another traveler who told me a Yanma brought her some fruit and berries after it caused a loose rock on a cliff to fall off and nearly crush her,” Aubrey explains. He looks over at the Pokeball you threw at Surskit.

“I think you got it,” Aubrey says in anticipation. The ball shakes one final time, and then you hear a ding. The Level 6 Female Surskit remains inside her Pokeball waiting for her new trainer to pick her up.

“Congratulations on your first capture!” he says to you. “I have a Surskit and Masquerain myself. They are wonderful in contests. Yes, I am a coordinator. Do you have any interest in contests?” He looks at Volts, “Your Pachirisu, I mean Volts, looks tired. If you’d like you can come rest at my camp for a little while. It’s just this way.”

You’ve been given a choice. Will you accompany Aubrey to his camp, or will you go your own way?

What will you do?

OOC – Congratulations on your capture! Once you reply to this update, you will have unlocked the Egg House for your use. Be sure to link to your reply when you go collect your first egg.

Myrrh seemed to still be a bit uninterested in the Surskit, seeing as he wasn't fully paying attention to the pokeball, but he figured he might as well converse with Aubrey while the Surskit struggles with the Pokeball.

"Huh, really? How nice of that Yanma. Now that you mention it, at one point the Surskit seemed to be leading us to something, but it could have just been to ambush us or something." Aubrey had just told Myrrh about someone he had met here earlier, who had been injured and then helped by the very same pokemon. Myrrh then noticed Aubrey look towards the pokeball.

"I think you got it." He was right, the pokeball shook one last time before it finally settled and dinged. Surskit was now Myrrh's. "Congratulations on your first capture!" Added Aubrey.

"Yes, this is so cool! A real capture in a place like this, I'm feeling a lot better about this Surskit now! And thank you."

"I have a Surskit and Masquerain myself. They are wonderful in contests. Yes, I am a coordinator. Do you have any interest in contests?”

"Hm, well I never really thought about participating in any, but I am interested in the whole thing in general. Maybe sometime I can watch a few." Myrrh noticed Aubrey now looking at Volts.

“Your Pachirisu, I mean Volts, looks tired. If you’d like you can come rest at my camp for a little while. It’s just this way.”

"Ah yes, Volts. Myrrh started walking over to his tired friend and picked him up. "You did great, you can take it easy for now." Volts smiled and relaxed in Myrrh's arms, it was rather tired out. He went to pick up the pokeball next. "You also battled hard. I hope you can grow stringer with us." He added Surskit's pokeball to his belt, right next to Volts'.

Finally he turned back to Aubrey. "Hm, I guess seeing as the only two pokemon I have with me are pretty tired it would be a good idea to rest for a while. If you really don't mind, lead the way please."

Myahoo: The blue watery orbs of energy produced by Wings all pelt Boldore for some decent damage. Naturally, the Ore Pokémon would back up slowly while taking that damage, but it sensed it was getting dangerously close to the lake. It stopped backtracking just before falling in the lake.

After receiving his instructions, Wildfire ran out closer to Boldore, and began scratching and tearing at the ground, trying to dig his way to the alternate-colored Pokémon. Boldore, seeing how close its attackers were getting, started blasting rocks at Wings and Wildfire. Wildfire easily dodged, as he was almost fully underground by the time the attack found its way to him. Wings was able to dodge most of the rocks too, but one of them did strike him in the chest successfully knocking the Staravia back a couple yards.

Wings flew over by you and Chloe awaiting his next instructions from the intrepid trainer. “Wings, watch the ground for Wildfire to emerge. When he does,” she reached into her bag and removed a small red berry and tossed in the air near Wings, “use Natural Gift with this Chople Berry at the same time as Wildfire. Hopefully that will push Boldore far enough and into the pond. Wings caught the berry and nodded at Chloe.

The three Pidove, hearing Chloe’s and your plan, looked at each other, spoke briefly amongst each other, and they took flight as well also watching for Wildfire. Boldore, meanwhile, fired one rock at Wings, hoping it would smack the Starling Pokémon down to the ground. Wildfire emerged from his tunnel to attack Boldore, spinning in the air to strike feet first. Seeing this Wings munched on the Chople Berry quickly and started charging at Boldore, now beginning to glow an orangey color beaming with Fighting energy. Seeing this, the Pidove began flapping their wings rapidly sending strong gusts at the Ore Pokémon. When Wings and Wildfire both assault Boldore, one of the Pidove switch attacks from Gust to Air Cutter sending sharp wind blades at Boldore.

At the moment of impact with Boldore, Wildfire quickly leapt out of the way as if to begin an attack on another foe; but instead he returned to your side and hid by your feet. The force of all these attacks, knocked Boldore back just enough that it lost its footing, and finally, it fell into the lake.

“Finally,” Chloe exclaimed, “it’s over!” She watched Wings and the Pidove flying around the cavern in celebration. She turned to you, “Thank you for your help, Melissa. I’m sure the Pidove appreciate it too. If you’d like I can heal Wildfire’s injuries too. I’ll be tending to Wings,” she sat down on the rock next to you and took out her first aid kit. Wings flew over to the both of you and landed near Chloe. “What drew you to the cave anyway if you don’t mind me asking?”

Suddenly you started to hear a muffled rhythmic rumbling coming from the lake. Chloe sprang from her seat to see what was happening. The surface of the lake began to get choppy. By the fourth rumble, you could see what the cause was. Boldore was trying hard to get out of the lake. “It must be using Rock Blast to propel itself out! I can’t believe it’s still active,” Chloe said disappointed. With one last blast, Boldore burst out of the lake. It turned to face you and Chloe swaying back and forth. The gems began to glow gathering power. Before it could do anything, however, Boldore’s legs gave out; and it fell to the ground exhausted, passed out.

Seeing this opportunity, Chloe takes a black and white Pokeball with blue spots out of her backpack. She throws the Heavy Ball at Boldore to capture it. When the ball hit Boldore, it opened and absorbed the Ore Pokémon into its white light. The ball closed up and dropped to the ground shaking. Finally the capture mechanism dinged signaling to Chloe that the capture was successful. “Wow! I caught it,” she exclaimed.

The three Pidove, meanwhile, landed on the ground near you. Two of them were speaking to each other, and it sounded like they were having an argument. The third one looked at the other two, worried. Whatever the two of them were arguing about must have been upsetting to one of them because that Pidove became louder as the argument continued.

“What are they fighting about, I wonder?” Chloe asked while she was spraying a potion on Wings. “It’s starting to distract me.” She sprayed Wings a couple extra times on the chest where he took the Rock Blast attack, and then she was done. “Here, I can treat Wildfire for you then help you out of the cave if you’d like.”

What will you do?

Melissa winced briefly in sympathy as Chloe's Staravia was hit in the chest by the Rock Blast, but she was more anxious about Wildfire pulling off her plan. It would be disastrous if he ended up in the water, after all. However, it seemed like all the other Pokemon were preparing to lend Wildfire a hand, as Chloe ordered Wings to wait for Wildfire to emerge and the Pidove took flight to watch for him too.

After another few moments of tense waiting, Wildfire bursts out of the ground, striking the Boldore feet-first even as the birds unleash their attacks. On impact, the Cyndaquil immediately turns and leaps away, returning to Melissa's side and watching intently as the Boldore is bombarded by the impacts of the birds' attacks. It finally loses its footing and falls into the lake with a splash, allowing relief to sweep through the duo. Wildfire immediately leaps into Melissa's lap and his trainer gathers him into a hug, grinning broadly, as Chloe exclaims that it's over and the birds fly around the cavern in celebration.

The other trainer then continues, "Thank you for your help, Melissa. I'm sure the Pidove appreciate it too. If you'd like, I can heal Wildfire's injuries too. I'll be tending to Wings." She takes a seat nearby and pulls out her first-aid kit, Wings flying over to land near his trainer. "What drew you to the cave anyway, if you don't mind me asking?"

"You're welcome," Melissa replies, shifting a little where she sat. Now that the battle was over, she was really starting to feel how uncomfortable the rock was to sit on with her leg stretched out like it was. With a grimace, she continues, "I was searching for somewhere to ride out the storm after I'd hurt my leg and Wildfire pointed this cave out to me. Then, the Pidove got blown into the cave and Wildfire had gotten worried about them, so we decided to go find them," she related as she watched Chloe care for her Staravia.

Melissa was just about to mention already knowing about Chloe's battle with the Boldore when a rumbling came from the lake, causing Chloe to spring to her feet. Melissa had to resist the urge to copy her, not quite ready to test whether the other trainer's medical skills would hold up, though Wildfire has no such restrictions. He clambers up to the top of Melissa's head and peers over at the lake, describing what he sees. Even without her starter's help, Melissa could see that it was the Boldore struggling to leave the lake.

"It must be using Rock Blast to propel itself out! I can't believe it's still active," Chloe says, disappointed. It finally bursts out of the water and sways with fatigue, Wildfire leaping off Melissa's head to put himself between the wild Pokemon and his trainer and preparing for battle. However, the Boldore ends up collapsing before it can release its attack. Chloe tosses a Heavy Ball at the Pokemon, capturing it with a "Wow! I caught it."

Meanwhile, the three Pidove had landed near Melissa and two of them were engaged in a conversation, though it quickly escalated into an argument. The third one was looking worriedly between the other two, as the argument got louder.

"What are they fighting about, I wonder?" Chloe asked once she'd turned back to treating Wings. "It's starting to distract me." Melissa had to wonder whether the other trainer realized that her Staravia could probably shut the two Pidove up rather quickly had he wanted to. Or, maybe, relay the contents of the conversation to her. "Here, I can treat Wildfire for you then help you out of the cave if you'd like."

"That would be nice," Melissa replied, nudging Wildfire forward on her lap where he'd returned once the Boldore was safely caught. The Cyndaquil eyed the other trainer cautiously, before approaching to be treated. Melissa then slowly levered herself to her feet, still making sure to keep her weight away from her injured leg, and leaned against the wall. The Pidove's sniping was starting to grate on her ears.

"Hey, you two," she said, her voice only the slightest bit sharp. "Could you please put your argument on hold until we get out of this cavern? Your echoes are starting to hurt my ears."

Allishinca: Knowing you weren’t going to face your doom at the hands of Beheeyem, you thought for a moment if you really wanted to continue with the challenge. Pluto was certainly looking forward to it. You wondered, though, just how mentally stable this Cerebral guardian was. To be safe you took some notes in your notebook about the encounter.

Telepathically you hear, "I can assure you, my dear, that although I am admittedly lonely, I am quite sane. Oh, and yes I am a telepath." Its message startled you a bit, but nevertheless, you and Pluto continue on in the temple for the next challenge.

You both enter the hallway and start walking down it. With the hall already fully lit your mind is a little more at ease. Immediately walking in, you feel a wave of warmth; and as you continue walking the air gets even warmer. In the distance you can start to make out the next room. It's giving off an orange glow, and it makes you wonder if the walls are still white or if they're orange. You hear the door behind you rumble to a close, and because of that, it gets a little warmer now. As you make your way closer to the next room, the orange glow begins to flicker a little. When you finally enter the room, you can see that the walls look like they're on fire. The heat isn't as intense as you would expect, but it is warm in the room. There is no smoke filling the room either. In the far corner, Pluto alerts you to a skeleton lying on the ground.

"Splendid!" Beheeyem yells out with a snap it also appears. "I'm so glad you could join me here. Let's get the lights," Beheeyem looks around. "Oops I must have left them on from the last challenge." All of a sudden you hear the door behind you slowly close shut. "Don't worry, you won't suffocate," there's a pause in its voice. "At least I don't think you will." Beheeyem looks around the room and spots the skeleton. "Don't mind him." Beheeyem waves its hand at the skeleton, and it disappears. "So, what brings you here?" It tilts its head sideways at you waiting for an answer, but before you could answer. "That's right you're in the middle of a challenge." Beheeyem thinks for a moment. "Try this one."

I like it extremely cold,
and I signal heavy snow.
I live on snow and ice.
Living together we're nice.
If I live with you, your home will grow.

"Once again, just yell it out. I'm out of here; it's way too warm!" Beheeyem disappears with that familiar snap.

What will you do?

Alli finished packing her notebook as Pluto entertained a thought of doubt. He was beginning to question the sanity of Beheeyem, while Alli simply followed her Pokemon's lead, blissfully unaware. In between their ears rang out the sentence; "I can assure you, my dear, that although I am admittedly lonely, I am quite sane. Oh, and yes I am a telepath." Alli looked around inquisitively, unaware of the context of the above statement. Pluto stomped his furry paws in agitation, and crossed his long arms. Alli watched her Pokemon amusingly, but did not piece together the conversation that had just transpired.

Alli and Pluto stepped into the corridor with the parallel lit candles. Pluto scurried ahead, with Alli taking up the rear. The light flickering from the candles put Alli at ease, as she picked up her pace and caught up to her partner. There was an intense wave of heat in the hallway. The sudden change of temperature caught Pluto off guard, as he stopped to wipe his brow. The temperature escalated as the duo advanced. A glowing orange square signified the next room, leaving Alli and Pluto questioned the content of the new area.

"It looks like the new room is bright orange!" Pluto did not believe this, as a nervous bought of instinct informed him that the glowing orange was instead something much more hazardous. A gentle shaking notified the group that the entrance behind them was being sealed with a large megalith. With the exit sealed, the warmth of the passageway increased. Up ahead, the orange square began to move, as though an intricate light show was being displayed. This peaked their interest, as Alli and Pluto jogged into the new room. Instead of the plain white walls of the last room, the sides of this one appeared to be alive. They were covered in flames that danced upward, despite not giving off any smoke. Alli and Pluto found the heat in their new surroundings oddly bearable. As the temperature did not alarm her, Alli instead took an interest in the flaming walls. She found beauty in their glimmering movement, but quickly realized how damaging they could be to her precious Cryptids notebook. Taking it out of her backpack, she hugged it closely. Pluto was more deeply affected by the intimidating area, as he had a much strong concept of the danger they found themselves in. He tried hard to shake the nagging instinct to run away from the flames, as he took a quick glance back down the sealed hallway before shaking the thought from his head definitely. Proceeding inward, Alli kept her eyes focused on the flames until she turned away to find her vision blurred with spots. She rubbed at her face while Pluto lead, surveying the new room during his advancement. He balked when identifying a skeleton in the far corner, causing a momentarily blinded Alli to trip over him.

Before they could pick themselves up off of the ground, they heard the cry out of; "Splendid," as Beheeyem reappeared with a snap. "I'm so glad you could join me here. Let's get the lights" Alli opened her eyes and herself stomach down on the floor. Pluto was crushed under her midsection, and fidgeted desperately to get out. With her vision restore, she quickly observed the skeleton lying in the corner as the color ran from her face. "Oops," the Guardian continued, "I must have left them on from the last challenge." Alli attempted to spring herself upwards off of Pluto at the same moment that the room shook from the slab door sliding close. Alli stumbled from the vibrations and fell back onto her bottom, while Pluto shook himself off, happy to be free. "Don't worry, you won't suffocate," there's a pause in its voice. "At least I don't think you will." Alli turned to Beheeyem with fear struck eyes and pointed towards the corner of the room. Beheeyem turned and spotted the skeleton. "Don't mind him." With a wave of his hand, the skeleton vanished. With the source of her fear removed, Alli caught her breathe. The heat in the room had escalated with the shutting of the only exit. Alli began to feel small beads of sweat of appearing on her forehead while Pluto panted with his tongue dangling out. "So, what brings you here?" Beheeyem inspected the duo inquisitively before continuing, "That's right, you're in the middle of a challenge." Alli and Pluto arose and faced the Guardian. "Try this one."

I like it extremely cold,
and I signal heavy snow.
I live on snow and ice.
Living together we're nice.
If I live with you, your home will grow.

"Once again, just yell it out. I'm out of here; it's way too warm!" With a familiar snap, Beheeyem was gone. Alli went over and sat down by Pluto, as she recited the riddle. Swinging her backpack off, Alli attempted to hold on tightly to her Cryptids notebook with one hand while fishing her Pokedex out with her other. She was going over all the Ice Pokemon she could think of when Pluto interjected with a sudden epiphany.

"Wait, wait Pluto! I think I got this one!" Alli set her Pokedex down. "Snover's ability, Snow Warning, brings on heavy snow fall, and it's a tree, so if you bring it home... it grows!" Alli looked on expectantly while awaiting a response from her Pokemon. Pluto only stared at her with a blank expression before letting his face fall forward into his hands. "What?" Pluto sighed, and stuck out a paw with three furry fingers. "Three? Do you mean the third line of the riddle?" Pluto nodded. "Snover live in snowy mountains, so they do live on top of snow and ice!" Pluto shook his head and, wrapping himself up in his long arms, pretended to shiver. "How can you be cold, it's so warm in here!" Alli flung her arms up in exasperation as Pluto's head dropped back as he grumbled loudly. Realizing that the heat was getting to them, Pluto dived forward into Alli's backpack and pulled out a handkerchief. Wrapping himself in it, he continued his shaking act, and grimaced in such a way that displayed his teeth. "Oooh! You mean-" Alli changed her sitting position, bringing her legs forward and crossing them. She then picked up her Pokedex, and searched through it until she found the right one. Pluto disregarded his handkerchief, and hopped up on Alli's knee.

Snorunt appeared on screen, as Alli and Pluto exchanged glances. Pluto nodded confidently, as Alli gave him an unconvinced expression. Pluto stuck out one furry finger. "The first line of the riddle?" Alli thought for a minute before reviewing the Pokedex. "It says here that Snorunt live in regions with heavy snowfall. Oh, and it can apparently withstand temperatures up to minus one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit!" Pluto gave a sol nod, and stuck out two fingers. Alli returned to the screen, and continued; "It says here that if you see a Snorunt at midnight, snowfall will arrive by morning." Pluto gave a third nod, and stuck out a matching amount of fingers. "Well lots of Ice Pokemon live on top of snow since lots of them live in arctic climates!" Pluto gave her an unimpressed look, and pointed at the Pokedex. "It says... Snorunt survives by eating only snow and ice. Oh! So it literately lives on a diet of snow and ice!" Pluto confirmed that this was correct, and stuck out three fingers from one paw, and an extra from his other. "Yeah! It says that Snorunt tend to live in groups of five, and that they survive together in harmony!" Pluto hopped excitedly, and signified five with his two paws. Alli had to read through her Pokedex for a while before unearthing the last bit of text: "Old folklore claims that a house visited by Snorunt is sure to prosper for many generations to come. I get it!" Pluto threw his arms up excitedly as Alli mimicked this motion. "But I still think the answer is Snover." Pluto dashed towards the handkerchief, and again covering himself in it, gave Alli an insubordinate stair. "Okay, okay. We'll go with your answer." Alli flinched as she accidentally brushed up against the metal buckles of her overalls while trying to stand. They had grown hot within the smoldering confined space. "Still, wouldn't it be nice to have Snover's Snow Warning sprinkling us with snow right now?" Pluto agreed, and the two smiled at each other. Their anxiety over the enclosed, heated space washed away with the potential riddle answer. Removing themselves from their group huddle, Alli replaced her items into her backpack as they two of them stood up.

"Mr. Guardian, we think the answer for your riddle this time is... Snorunt!"

Slip and slides are fun… except when you’re about to DIE. That was the situation facing you: you were slipping and sliding, and then you saw the ride ended with a likely impalement if you didn’t do something. So… you did something! Well, Minori did something, at least; he gathered some Water energy and formed it into a ball between his flippers, then flung it towards the wall OF DEUM. To your surprise, not only do the spikes crumble under the intense Pulse of energy, but the entire wall falls apart! The attack also served to create a wave in your direction, slowing the two of you down until you come to a stop right where the wall used to be. Whew!

Now that you had a moment to catch your breath from the thrill ride you were able to look at the design of the ruins. The wall to your left had pictograms depicting some ancient culture’s lifestyle habits: farming, hunting, that sort of thing. Another wall piques your interest, though; it had an odd shape that was most prominent in the center of it. It looked like some sort of crescent with something sticking out in the middle… pretty weird. Suddenly, you spot a faint glimmer in the water near you, and you slowly walk in the knee-deep water so you could check it out. What was it? You carefully reach down into the water, making sure your clothes don’t get too wet as you do so, and you can’t believe your luck as you pick up an old coin. It had the same symbol as the one on the wall, so they were sure to be related. At the very least, you’d be able to get a nice chunk of change out of this Relic Copper (can be turned in for 1000 coins at the Coin Exchange)! Your Seel then claps in excitement for your find, which accidentally splashes water all over you. You laugh as you tell him to stop, his energy is pretty contagious!

“Noriko!?” That was Gary’s voice! You mount Minori again as his swimming in knee-deep water is slightly faster than you trudging through it, then head into the right corridor where you heard Gary’s voice, and it’s not long before you find him and his Blastoise trapped inside a stone cage. “Good, you’re okay! I was worried with the way you were screaming,” he says to you- Wait, what’s wrong with this picture? Oh yeah, Blastoise should be able to hose his way through pretty much any wall! Why not this one? “You’ve gotta help us,” he continued. “We’re trapped here; Blastoise’s attacks just bounce off of the wall from the inside! There’s a switch in that path to your left that’ll open this up and the way forward. Here, take this,” he says as he holds out his hand through one of the holes for you to grab the ring in it. (It looks a lot better than how it’s drawn, believe me! ^_^’) You notice the ring has the same symbol you’ve seen a couple of times now, and you notice the holes start to close as Gary answers your curiosity: “That symbol’s the one for the Lunar Magi, and this is their temple, so you’ll probably come across some puzzles that deal with the moon. Good luck!” And with that, the holes close completely.

What will Noriko do?

OOC: My deepest apologies for being so late with this reply, there was some IRL university stuff completely stumping my creativity. ;_;

Luckily for Noriko and Minori, the latter quickly formed a Water Pulse and swung it at the approaching wall of pure death. The spikes appeared to be no match against the strong attack, crumbling upon contact – along with the rest of the wall! Noriko had no time to process any of this, only noticing that they had stopped right where the wall was only a moment ago. She let out a small laugh and hugged her Seel partner. It would be a while before she’d get on a slide again! Minori was shaking slightly with very similar thoughts.

After a couple of deep breaths, Noriko had a look at their surroundings. The cave seemed old and somewhat fragile, with what looked like cave paintings covering the walls. The pictures told tales of hunters and farmers, war and peace, deities and common folk. Noriko got off Minori’s back – the water was only knee-deep and the Seel could use a bit of rest. She started inspecting the walls more closely, noticing one that stood out from the rest: it had a crescent-shaped indentation in the middle of it, with something sticking out at the viewer. Noriko started approaching the wall but got distracted by a glimmer from the water nearby. Slowly bending and reaching out to it, she picked up the small object. It was an old coin with a crescent on it that matched the wall’s indentation. Surely this was no coincidence? Minori had swum closer and started clapping happily at the sight of treasure, throwing some water on Noriko in the process. She laughed and hurried to put the Relic Copper in her pocket so as not to lose it. Maybe they’d find some more interesting stuff if they ventured further!

As soon as she had that thought, she heard someone calling her name. “Noriko!?” Gary! Apparently he was alive and had somehow avoided the spiky wall earlier. Noriko mounted Minori again, the Pokémon being capable of swimming much faster than her trying to walk or run through the water. Following the sound, the duo found themselves in front of a cage made of stone – with Gary and Blastoise stuck inside it. “Good, you’re okay! I was worried with the way you were screaming.” Noriko tried to hold a straight face at the Gym Leader’s words, utterly failing at it. This surely wouldn’t impress Gary, or even a regular Trainer. Suddenly she noticed something very odd about the situation presented to her: if Minori could crush a wall of stone, why couldn’t Blastoise do it? Right before she got her mouth open, Gary continued. “You’ve gotta help us. We’re trapped here; Blastoise’s attacks just bounce off of the wall from the inside! There’s a switch in that path to your left that’ll open this up and the way forward. Here, take this!”

Noriko reached out to Gary through the bars of the cage, grabbing the object Gary was handing her: a ring with a crescent insignia on it. Already quite familiar with the image, Noriko opened her mouth to ask what it was – to see the holes between the bars closing! Gary rushed to give some kind of information: “That symbol’s the one for the Lunar Magi, and this is their temple, so you’ll probably come across some puzzles that deal with the moon. Good luck!” With that the holes closed, leaving Gary and his Pokémon imprisoned inside. Noriko squeezed her fingers around the ring. “Minori, we have to get them out of there. Let’s go left; Gary said there’s a switch to open this thing…” Minori nodded with a serious look in his eyes before the two of them started swimming to the appointed direction – but Noriko feared the quest wouldn’t be as easy as just walking up to a switch and flipping it… “Puzzles, huh? Let’s hope the Magi weren’t completely sadistic folks.” She laughed hollowly as Minori picked up the speed.

~Adventure Path~OkikuMew: With the Black Apricorns secured in the box, you move on to find your next group of Apricorn trees. Max leads the way, with your suggestion, to the left. You pass by more Black Apricorn trees, and you can see that some birds have taken nest within some of the trees. You see some Tranquill, who watch as you pass by. In another tree nearby you see a Staravia making a nest with some grass and twigs it found.

Eventually the Black Apricorns give way to Pink Apricorns, and you keep walking along the path. The number of Black Apricorn trees seems to outnumber the Pink ones, since you only see a few rows of them. All kinds of bird Pokémon fly around; some to see who has invaded their territory, some looking for food. Out of the corner of your eye you notice a Pidgeotto flying by, seemingly following you.

By the time you discover the Yellow Apricorn trees, the Pidgeotto that was circling you previously returned to its nest. For some reason, there are even fewer trees with Yellow Apricorns; in fact, you only count four nearby. You immediately start on the nearest tree to you. There are a few choices in this tree, all of which involve some climbing. Luckily the tree looks as though it can be easily climbed. There are two that are on different sides of the tree, but they are hanging near some large sturdy branches. The last one, for this tree, is much higher.

What will you do?

Special Instructions – It’s that time again. Once again, this is just a better way to help me decide how to proceed. Also, with these questions, there are definitely more than one possible answer. Please answer with either English or Japanese names where applicable.

1. If it were possible to use one now, which Pokémon would be an easy catch, using a Moon Ball?

2. Name two trainers from the anime who, given their rosters, would have benefited most from a Moon Ball.

3. If the effects of the Moon Ball were ever expanded to include Pokémon who have any kind of relevance to the moon, name two Pokémon who would likely be included.

As Okiku and Max takes the left path to the trainer's suggestion, they walked pass by quite a few flying-typed Pokémon, including a Staravia that made Okiku thought of her own pre-evolved Staravia, Rawk the Starly. The apricorn trees gradually went from black to pink, to the young woman's worry as it wasn't in her list of what Andersen needed. As they moved deeper in the area, she noticed how the inhabitants were watching her carefully... especially one stubborn-looking Pidgeotto following them around, but thankfully gave up and returned to its nest. Okiku then noticed yellow apricorn trees.

"Sweet, finally a color we need! And we need..." she looked at the list to refresh her memory, "...three of them." She looked more in detail the trees around and took note that there was only four of them around. "...Hopefully there's enough riped 'corns in them..."

She stared at the nearest one, noticing that all the apricorns on it are on tall branches, but at least for two of them the branches themselves looks study and well-placed enough to climb the tree easily. The third one, however, was pretty high up...

"Huh, well that's gonna be something, me who's not very athletic..." Okiku sighed. "But we gotta do what we gotta do! Plus..." she turned her head towards her pokéballs attached to her backpack, "I can always ask for a lending hand; Or wing or... floating curtain thing."

She grabbed two of those pokéballs and threw them in the air.

"Come on out Omenya and Spi!"

In a flash of light, a Shuppet and a Natu pops out of their round "mobile houses". The ghost swirled around his trainer wihle licking his lips, while the bird simply sat down and yawned.

"Gah, Omen, not the time to eat and make me think bad thoughts!" she shooed him away by waving her hand, while Max tried his best to bark him out of it himself.

Omenya complied to both, but quite dissapointed to not getting his favourite snack, his trainer's sad emotions that's lingering in her mind.

"Hey Spi," after Okiku sighed for the close call, "This is the first time you're gonna help us out, right? So I guess I should welcome ya aboard!"

Omenya spin around in place while Max happily barked to greet the Natu, only to get a short and neutral "Nat" out of the psychic type.

"So guys... I know both of you are not great flyers, or at least you Omen only floats around while you Spi can't really tow around something with a lot of weight... I thought you could help me out climbing that Apricorn tree," she pointed at it. "Or at least keep an eye out for me in case that I slip or something. If I do, you guys could team up and push me back on the tree so I don't fall, alright?"

The Shuppet nodded, but the Natu only gazed at the sky.

"Did... you get all that Spi?"

The bird only chirped twice in a careless way, not feeling to be bothered much.

"Okay..." the trainer placed her hands on her hips, wondering if he's really going to help her, or more importantly, if he even listened to her. "Alright then," she started to stretch her arms, "time to climb!"

After warming her body up, she grabbed the lowest branch and slowly started to escalate the tree, in the hopes getting ripped yellow apricorns... without breaking her own neck.

Woo, more quizzes!

1. Pokémon that can evolve with a Moon Stone, which includes Nidoran♂, Nidoran♀, Clefairy, Jigglypuff and Skitty. But strangely enough, Munna can also evolve with a Moon Stone but is not affected by catch rate of the Moon Ball because the pokéball isn't available in its gen...

2. May as she have a Skitty, and Whitney as she have a Clefairy (and could make her normal-typed team bigger with Jigglypuff and Skitty).

3. Lunatone and Cresselia, as both have a moon-shaped body or body part and have a moon-related name.

Last edited by OkikuMew; 23rd December 2012 at 4:27 PM.
Reason: Fixing typo.

OOC: Due to an oversight on my part, I just discovered Osage had been holding an Ice Gem. I'm not sure for how long, but it will be used up in this update.Charminions: The addition of Mightyena to the fold certainly made for an inconvenient situation. After surviving a collision of Thunderpunch and Ice Beam, you decided to incapacitate it in order to keep moving on your mission. The Mightyena fired a barrage of small Shadow Balls at both Osage and Pigkey.

Pigkey dodges the Shadow Balls and, by your orders, leaps at Mightyena and attaches herself to its face swiping furiously at the Bite Pokémon’s eyes. Mightyena shook and flailed about in pain trying to throw Pigkey off. When that never happened, Mightyena was able to sense where one of Pigkey’s legs was, and it did what Mightyena do best and crunched down on her leg with its fangs. Pigkey screams out in pain, and she immediately jumps off Mightyena. Luckily for her, she had gotten many good scratches in, and she succeeded in temporarily blinding the Bite Pokémon.

Nidoran makes another attempt at scratching Osage, but Osage is just too quick for her. He runs in with both claws charged with ice energy. The clear Ice Gem he wears glows and breaks up, and the energy contained inside flows into one of his fists. He throws his first punch, which appeared to be much more powerful than usual thanks to the power of the gem. Nidoran takes the first punch and finally the second, although the second is not at as powerful as the first. Nevertheless, she’s thrown off her feet. As much as she tries to get up, she just cannot. Nidoran lay on the ground, fainted from her injuries. Osage gains one level!

Seeing the Poison Pin Pokémon on the ground, Pigkey turns her already thundery charged fist on Mightyena. It never saw the attack coming, and it took the full force of the punch. The stored electricity also paralyzes the canine; it won’t be going anywhere for a little while.

With both foes taken care of for the time being, Pigkey picks up the scent of the berries. When she gets your attention once more, she points in the direction you should be heading.

What will you do?

The battle continues as several more Shadow Balls fly out of the Mightyena's mouth. Pigkey luckily dodges the onslaught and jumps onto the Mightyena's face, scratching at the dog's eyes several times with her Fury Swipes. The hyena barks out in pain as he flails around to shake Pigkey off. Failing to do so, the dark-type Crunches down on Pigkey's leg, forcing her to let go. "Atleast the big guy is blinded for now," Charm sighs in relief.

The female Nidoran then tries to Scratch Osage again, failing to do so once more. "Nice one, Osage. Now go in for the blow." The Sneasel ignores his trainer's cheers, but does as he's told when both his claws start glowing bright blue. An Ice Gem that he's had fuels one of them as he goes in for a one-two Ice Punch. The Nidoran simply cannot stand up after that deadly combo, leaving a huge grin on Charm's usually stolid face.

On the other side, Pigkey's crackling fist of lightning is left without a Nidoran to punch. "Use that Thunder Punch on Mightyena instead, Pigkey," Charm commands. Pigkey does just that, swinging the fist right into the blinded Mightyena, who squeals in pain as the electricity also paralyzes him.

Charm looks at both of the wild foes, satisfied with the outcome. He then looks at the Pokeball [4/5] he's been holding before chucking it at the knocked out Nidoran. A flash of red light beams out of the ball, attaching to the Nidoran before absorbing her in. The ball shakes back and forth while Charm turns his attention to Pigkey, who seems alerted by the scent of berries. "Alright Pigkey, let's get that berry and return back to Viola."

Astoria - o4

The Final Battle

Arc Angel: The war had reached a climatic finale, chaos was erupting below and Syrian had revealed his final gambit. The Griseous Orb was suspended over the great valley like a flashing beacon, it’s blinking so erratic it merged into a whitish blur. Your eyes home in on it greedily, relapsing into obsession with the fate of the world at stake. The mesa starts to rumble, striking silence on the splinter group of Shadow Pokémon who hadn’t succumb to Iris’s wrath. The tremor breaks before another aftershock. An Earthquake? Or something huge approaching? With the Renegade Pokémon only seconds away you cast your raw inhibition aside and whip up a plan of action. Valentine receives your mental signal loud and clear, somewhat at odds with your motives but unquestionably loyal. Blades still dripping with amphibian blood, he switches into an en garde position and winces in concentration. Your eyes travel from Valentine’s, which were glazed in Psychic energy, down the plateau toward the relic – as though an invisible lasso had been slung between the two. But nothing happens... The ghostly orb was immune to the warrior’s telekinetic prowess. If you wanted to separate Syrian and the Orb you’d have to do it the hard way.

‘If you want a job done right...’, Valentine starts – a streak of confidence in his tone as he breaks into a run. The knight’s nimble footsteps were impossible to make sound of under the cult leader’s hysteria. He was powerless to stop you both... or that’s what you thought. As Valentine drew his blades over his head Syrian’s laughter falters. The rest seems to play out in slow motion; Gallade lunges forward, Slashing his swords through the cold mist - but Syrian twists his body, dodging both blades by the skin of his teeth. Time spins back to normal and the two are stood inches apart, Syrian’s breathing noticeably accelerated with Valentine showing no sign of weakness. After a pause which seemed to last for minutes, the demon breaks the silence with a guffaw. His dilated pupils became focused again as the sinister aura that struck fear in your heart begins to rush back to him. Valentine wasn’t so fazed, a glare on his face running a lot deeper than today’s battle - he had a vendetta to settle.

“You really think you can overpower me?” Syrian goaded, “try it you filthy creature...” Valentine had grown stronger and more valiant than you could’ve possibly imagined, traits of his shrewd mother pumping through his veins. But some strain of wildness from his father’s side is enough for him to take the bait. With a clench of fist his eyes flicker a blue aura, channelling all his psychic energy into Confusing the demon and driving him to insanity. But Syrian wasn’t bluffing - a flicker of concentration in his pupils as they engaged in a mental duel. Your heart skips a beat as Gallade’s face crinkles in deep meditation, gritting his teeth as he braced his feet firmly in the ground. The invisible forces at odds with each other gave you nothing to go off, but with each low grunt courtesy of Valentine you felt all the hope he’d filled you with start to ebb away. The Blade Pokémon falls to his knees, beads of sweat dripping down his face as the mental link shatters. Your nursing instincts are begging you to rush to his aide, but he raises a hand in protest. A loud gasp pierces the cold air as he grips his chest and falls on his side, eyes wide in shock.

’Stay back’, he splutters. Rolling onto his front he tries to support himself, but the pain in his heart is too much to bear. With realisation that this was the end, he looks on you with a brave stare, ‘There is always hope. That’s what my father taught me...’ Valentine’s eyes close and his grip on his chest slackens. And as though death wasn’t punishment enough, his transformation begins. Darkness spreads like an infection corrupting his heart down the tip of his blades, washing out all colours. With your muscles locked up in grief you can only bear witness as the warrior awakens a dark knight, his eyes a bloodcurdling red without a trace of familiarity. Valentine rises, bent on one knee as he bows to his new master. And then the realisation sinks in that your greatest ally in the war had become your deadliest enemy. Syrian’s laughter is like a kick in the stomach, and with the orb in his clutches and burning brighter than ever everything else seems trivial. The earth starts to drum like a beating heart, and the realisation that the apocalypse was dawning is swept away by the ghostly basilisk ripping through the charred trees at the peak of the valley like matchsticks!

GYAGOHOOO!

It’s cry commanded power, striking an emotion closer to awe than fear. Its gold accents looked silver under the pale moonlight, its red stripes and wing tips glowing luminous scarlet in contrast to its body. Its light broke down on the vale, showing just how effortlessly the goddess had decimated the Shadow army with the dregs of her power. Whilst Iris had kept her end of the bargain, you failed to stop Syrian whose eyes were smouldering with lust, “Giratina! Ruler of the reverse world, I have summoned you! Bend to my will!” You squint toward the far-off dragon, and swear you could see a glint of loathing in its eye. This makes no difference however, the legendary conscious of the Griseous Orb in his possession which its will was bound to. Moments pass and the renegade Pokémon flickers a blinding white. Blinking away the spots you notice the silhouette’s features become more streamlined, its legs morphing into spikes and its broad wings splitting into wispy streamers. As the glow runs off its body you notice its mouth appears more insect-like, its serpentine body kicking off into the air until it was spiralling around the centre of the valley.

“One more thing before we go my pet”, Syrian interrupted with a casual air, “There’s a few individuals in the Shadows which I need you to Force out”. The legend lowered its head in servitude, diving into the vale until he was immersed in pitch black. You crawl toward the cliff edge, eyes sweeping over the drop that the magnificent beast had just phased into. You quickly spot a pair of red eyes stalking through the shadows, first heading toward the crash site for Shaymin before creeping up to the vantage point where you had last seen Iris. It was over in a flash - before it could sink in who the shadow was homing toward next. The same solid-yet-ethereal feeling of the orb overcomes you as the Giratina bounds you tight in one of its streamers, capturing the entire resistance force in one fell swoop. The renegade Pokémon had phased out of the Shadow Force, and was drifting above the vale once again. Your feet dangle weightlessly as you stare down at the thousand-foot drop. Shaymin was bound in the streamer beside you with the other four each restraining one of Iris’s limbs - despite the fact she was too drained to put up a fight. Screaming for help was futile; all you could do now was embrace your fate. The spiralling motion continued until a portal started to churn below, reaching the width of the vale, which explained the choice of location. Syrian’s wicked cackle was back in earshot as he mounted the dragon’s crown and you quickly have to avert your attention from the painful sight of Valentine clinging to his side. You catch sound of Syrian’s signal and Giratina suddenly drops, veering into the vortex at blinding speed and whisking you into oblivion...

The Distortion World

The uncharacteristic scream of Iris rouses you, and the flashes of the day’s events fill your every bone with renewed fear and despair. “Valentine, guard the dead girl. She can not interfere with my sacrifice”, you strain your ears to listen out for more, the rest of your senses quickly returning. You open your heavy eyes to a world nothing like your own... The skies were painted an ominous lavender, with the land hung eerily in space. Dark tree roots rippled through several of the orangey pathways, which seemed to spiral into different directions. A distant cascade seems to be flowing sideways - the laws of physics didn’t apply here. Focusing back on your mission, you spot four of Giratina’s streamers drifting idly... Syrian must have taken Iris! Shaymin tried to wrestle free before cleverly reverting to her smaller Land Forme. You try grabbing its attention but the hedgehog leaps off the back of the basilisk plummeting into the dark abyss to what looked like its death, but you couldn’t be sure of anything here. Your eyes sweep across where you were docked, a pathway leading to a chain of rocks laid out like skipping stones which led out toward the purple yonder. Minutes roll by as you regress further into depression, your own demons keeping the outside world at bay until-

Boink!

If you were still alive the force of that rock would’ve knocked you dead. You look above for a floating platform it could’ve broken off of, but there was nothing but purple space. A strange yet familiar cry grabs your attention ahead. The relic was suspended an inch from your face, covered in strange markings and glowing with purple energy - it was an old keystone! The stone rears back and Reaper spews free from it with a wicked smile. Reuniting with your friend causes a flame within you to ignite, but before he has a chance to cut you free a handsome voice rattles through your skull to stamp out the cinders. ’You really were a selfish bitch, Stacey. Because of you everyone I loved is dead, and now I’m going to make sure you suffer’. Valentine suddenly Teleports into view, balanced on the tip of the passive dragon’s tail with his red cloak billowing against the shifting gravity. His eyes set on you and Reaper as he poises himself to strike, what will you do?

Adventures in Astoria by Dark Searchman, Part 17

I'll try to do another end-of-month update for those who reply quick enough, but I'm not making any promises since I've come down with something. If I don't update by New Year's, then I should be able to update soon after that.

With Gary and his Blastoise imprisoned behind some magical stone wall that an awesome Hydro Pump couldn’t break, it was up to you and Minori to solve the puzzles of the Temple of the Lunar Magi and find the switch that would free them. You just hoped the puzzles wouldn’t be total brain teasers and stump you for time and eternity. As Minori swims further through the corridor, you see it’s just a straight shot for now, though there is the occasional window on the right side for you to look through. Each window gives its own view of the highly thrilling water slide you were on earlier. One window even shows you there was a fork in the slide; you must’ve been going so fast you didn’t even notice you went through it. From the way it was angled, you figured you took the right fork. For a moment, you were curious about what might’ve happened if you went left, but then you pictured the slide spiraling into nothingness and drove any remaining curiosity out of your mind.

You continue on, noting the prevalence of the Symbol of the Lunar Magi throughout the corridor until you finally reach a room with three more corrridors, one going straight, one to the left, and one to the right, and that didn’t count the one behind you. Great, were you supposed to just pick a path and hope you got lucky? You sigh and casually look up, trying to think about which path to take- oh wait, there’s a message on the ceiling:

Look ever for truth, walk uprightly, and right the downtrodden who have not looked up yet.

I guess that’s supposed to be a clue? Pretty cryptic one, if you ask me.

What will Noriko do?

Eyrie Peak

Posy Field

Jolteonjak & Son_of_Shadows – {@SoS: Well, Livewire wanted Steven back so he could mess with him more, that’s what fueled his determination! =P
@Jolteonjak: I’m going to rule that your using those items was done in between combats this time, but be careful with using items in the future, or they might count as moves and keep you from using attacks.
Oh, and since neither of you specified which Beedrill you wanted to target with your attacks I just RNG’d the targets. In the future, please specify if you want to target a specific Beedrill unless you’re using an attack that hits multiple targets. Thanks! =)}

The mission to diffuse a Beedrill war was successful as you had taken out the invading queen, but there were prisoners of war, one of them being Steven, Joshua’s Munna, and possibly Chad’s Numel, along with a Karrablast and Teddiursa each of you had met earlier. The Teddiursa, by the way, was wailing up a storm; she didn’t want to end up as “honey” for the hungry Weedle of this hive! You two needed to save this damsel in distress, along with the other Pokemon that were in danger. But first things first! Chad felt the need to heal up his Pokemon, so he tosses Wooper a Pecha Berry and an Oran Berry while he gave Heracross a Lemonade to drink. Heracross loved getting full health again, plus a fourth of his energy back, while Wooper was also relieved to have full health back AND not be sick from the poison (throwing up is not a good experience, kids!). Wait, what?

Heh, wow, those must’ve been some particularly potent berries Chad fed his Wooper because he’s evolving! The axolotl’s frills were disappearing, and he changed from one amphibian to another, one much more suited for land mainly because he grew arms and a stronger tail. A Quagsire! The other Pokemon all look on in awe at this event. Aegis especially was impressed; two evolutions, one after the other? Hardly a commonplace event!

Oh yeah, Numel was missing! Chad sends Heracross off to search for his missing comrade while the rest of the team set off to chase the Beedrill down. Joshua calls on Bishop to help out, though he’d need to watch on his energy. The Hoothoot is able to fly within attacking distance and Slash the Air to create a vacuum wave that hits the Beedrill holding the crying Teddiursa for some damage. Quagsire also gets in on the action by using the rest of his Psychic energy to fire another Psybeam at the Beedrill, and it hits the one holding Karrablast on its back causing it to cry out in pain, though it still maintains its hold on its captive. Quagsire tries again with a Scald attack, making sure not to hit one of the victims in the process, and he hits the Beedrill holding Steven right in the back of its head. The Beedrill are in full retreat mode now so none of them attack, but they started to gain some distance as you continued to give chase to them.

Aegis holds his chest as he tries to keep up with you; that crack in his shell was pretty nasty though nothing a stay at a Pokemon Center couldn’t fix. Livewire also had some trouble; he wasn’t going to be able to keep jumping to stay with the group. By the way, you found yourself back in the field, and just in front of the Beedrill was a brown and blue Numel that looked pretty beat up but still somehow able to stand and face a whole swarm coming at him.

What will Chad and Joshua do?

Dead Forest

Toxic Marsh

Ampharos_Dude – {I'd also like it if you posted in size 1. Thanks! =) }

You could hear grunting and growling coming from the other side of the door as the Squirtleman tried to wrestle a mother Linoone and catch her with his bare hands, but you thought he was pretty crazy for doing that (which was highly likely). You weren’t going to take any chances, so you had Venipede guard the door and Curl up to hopefully fortify his Defense enough so the Linoone wouldn’t be able to break the door down too easily. Meanwhile, you still had a Zigzagoon to deal with, so a Grass-type team-up was necessary! Both Pokemon were ready to attack, but Zigzagoon rushed in and Tackled Cherubi again before anyone could do anything. Not to be deterred Cherubi started spitting out Seeds at the speed of a Bullet, along with Cherry. The two attacks are able to damage Zigzagoon, but only two seeds from each attack were able to hit, though one of them did hit a weak spot causing the baby raccoon to yelp in pain from that attack. You could hear the Linoone again and the Squirtleman reacting to her: “Whoa, she almost bit me!” Then you could hear the door get clawed at again as the Linoone’s Slash attack was louder; she was almost through the door! Zigzagoon gained morale off of his mother’s attempt to reach him and targeted Cherubi again with a Tackle attack since he had been damaged more. This time the raccoon bounds right past you, knocking Cherubi off his feet and dealing some decent damage. Cherry waits for Cherubi to get back up before doing another Bullet Seed attack with him, but only one of Cherubi’s seeds and two of Cherry’s seeds hit, one of them hitting the same weak spot from before … and the Zigzagoon gives out one more yelp before slumping onto the stairs. Cherry and Cherubi each gain one level! “Oh man, she’s throwin’ a fit now!” the Squirtleman struggles to say. “I don’t think I can hold the mama fer long, she’s gonna git through that door in a sec! If you’re gonna catch it, catch it now!” Should be easy enough since the Zigzagoon’s knocked out, right?

What will Shiro do?

Missingno. Master –

You had to see for yourself just who the Bullwinkle family was up against. That red and white afro sure made things clear to you: this family was being heckled by Miror B., formerly of Team Cipher, the evil organization in the Orre region that was infamous for totally corrupting Pokemon. That may or may not be what Miror B. is after here, but in any case you did not want to see the family’s lives ruined at his expense. You change the subject to the gratitude of the family. “Sure, we’d love to let you look at our Pokemon!” Shelley said while serving another helping of gumbo to her daughters. “But after we have lunch, okay kids? We’ve got plenty for seconds!” she says as you see Millie and Rebecca look excited about showing off the poisonous pets they have.

**********

Wow, that lunch was delicious! I’m jealous I wasn’t there, though, gumbo is pretty good, and I’d have had some for sure! Oh … sorry Tess, I’ll move on with the story now, heh heh! Aaaaaanyway, you and the family had now finished lunch and were on your way to … THE VENOM BARN! MWAHAHAHAHA- ahem, sorry again, Tess. That’s … not what they named it, by the way, they don’t even have a nickname for it. Oh, no wait, that was what they nicknamed it! Well, the girls, at least, so I’ve got my notes straight! So yeah, you were face to face with the “Venom Barn” which, appropriately enough, had a sign with a Koffing outside the door, so there was no mistaking it: this was where all those uber-cool Poison-types lived. The “Holy Grail of Sludge”, if you will. Oh yeah, almost forgot, YOU WERE WITH ROXIEEE!!! OTL As you go inside, you see that it looks like any other barn, except … well, there was a horribly bad smell that would keep most people out, but hey, you’re used to these smells, right? “Best not disturb our Nidoqueen right now,” Shelley warns you. “This is ‘bout the time they start feedin’ their darlings, and they don’t take kindly to interruptions.” So you locate where the Nidoqueen stables are … and you take note to stay far away from them … for now.

In the meantime, you have a look at the large pen where all the poisonous snakes lived. There were Ekans, Arbok, and a few Seviper, some of them staring and flicking their tongues at you curiously, others just slithering around making some parts of the room appear to be nothing but writhing masses of snake. Millie even goes in and holds a baby Ekans, under the watchful eye of the mother Arbok, of course, who hisses and uses her hood to shoo the girl away once she had enough. Then you hear a distressed “Hauntaaa…” from behind you. You turn around to see the Gaseous Pokemon with separate hands floating around, appreaing to be very worried and as if she was looking for something. You decide to ask Bo and Shelley about it and Shelley calls out, “’Becca? Were you playin’ with the Gastly earlier and didn’t lock the door again?”

“No, ma, not this time! Honest!” you could hear Rebecca’s voice from the other side of the barn.

“Hey, Uncle Bo!” Roxie brings your attention to a special pen that it was explained to you had an ethereal barrier on the door so the Ghost-types couldn’t just phase out of the pen. “Take a look at this!”

You, Bo, and Shelley come to investigate. “Looks like the lock’s been done worn through,” says Bo as he picks it up. “Great, just what we needed. All right! I’m gonna need everybody’s help to find the Gastly, they’re probably still in this barn, but we’ll need a couple a people ta look outside, just in case! Sally, that’ll be you ‘n me! We’ll have my Crobat helpin’ too ta use Supersonic ‘n see if he can hear ‘em! Rest of you search every inch a this barn ‘til you find ‘em!”

“I can help too,” says Roxie. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them!”

“Thanks, Roxie!” says Shelley. “There are five of ‘em, so look hard!”

“Let’s go Sally!” Bo says urgently. “Right behind you, Pa!” Sally chimes in before the father and daughter head outside. Seems like the Gastly are playing Hide and Seek with everyone, including their mother!

What will Keith do? {If you’re willing to help, play Gastly’s Hidden Haunt and post your score along with your reply.}

I'll try to do another end-of-month update for those who reply quick enough, but I'm not making any promises since I've come down with something. If I don't update by New Year's, then I should be able to update soon after that.

Dead Forest

Toxic Marsh

Missingno. Master –

You had to see for yourself just who the Bullwinkle family was up against. That red and white afro sure made things clear to you: this family was being heckled by Miror B., formerly of Team Cipher, the evil organization in the Orre region that was infamous for totally corrupting Pokemon. That may or may not be what Miror B. is after here, but in any case you did not want to see the family’s lives ruined at his expense. You change the subject to the gratitude of the family. “Sure, we’d love to let you look at our Pokemon!” Shelley said while serving another helping of gumbo to her daughters. “But after we have lunch, okay kids? We’ve got plenty for seconds!” she says as you see Millie and Rebecca look excited about showing off the poisonous pets they have.

**********

Wow, that lunch was delicious! I’m jealous I wasn’t there, though, gumbo is pretty good, and I’d have had some for sure! Oh … sorry Tess, I’ll move on with the story now, heh heh! Aaaaaanyway, you and the family had now finished lunch and were on your way to … THE VENOM BARN! MWAHAHAHAHA- ahem, sorry again, Tess. That’s … not what they named it, by the way, they don’t even have a nickname for it. Oh, no wait, that was what they nicknamed it! Well, the girls, at least, so I’ve got my notes straight! So yeah, you were face to face with the “Venom Barn” which, appropriately enough, had a sign with a Koffing outside the door, so there was no mistaking it: this was where all those uber-cool Poison-types lived. The “Holy Grail of Sludge”, if you will. Oh yeah, almost forgot, YOU WERE WITH ROXIEEE!!! OTL As you go inside, you see that it looks like any other barn, except … well, there was a horribly bad smell that would keep most people out, but hey, you’re used to these smells, right? “Best not disturb our Nidoqueen right now,” Shelley warns you. “This is ‘bout the time they start feedin’ their darlings, and they don’t take kindly to interruptions.” So you locate where the Nidoqueen stables are … and you take note to stay far away from them … for now.

In the meantime, you have a look at the large pen where all the poisonous snakes lived. There were Ekans, Arbok, and a few Seviper, some of them staring and flicking their tongues at you curiously, others just slithering around making some parts of the room appear to be nothing but writhing masses of snake. Millie even goes in and holds a baby Ekans, under the watchful eye of the mother Arbok, of course, who hisses and uses her hood to shoo the girl away once she had enough. Then you hear a distressed “Hauntaaa…” from behind you. You turn around to see the Gaseous Pokemon with separate hands floating around, appreaing to be very worried and as if she was looking for something. You decide to ask Bo and Shelley about it and Shelley calls out, “’Becca? Were you playin’ with the Gastly earlier and didn’t lock the door again?”

“No, ma, not this time! Honest!” you could hear Rebecca’s voice from the other side of the barn.

“Hey, Uncle Bo!” Roxie brings your attention to a special pen that it was explained to you had an ethereal barrier on the door so the Ghost-types couldn’t just phase out of the pen. “Take a look at this!”

You, Bo, and Shelley come to investigate. “Looks like the lock’s been done worn through,” says Bo as he picks it up. “Great, just what we needed. All right! I’m gonna need everybody’s help to find the Gastly, they’re probably still in this barn, but we’ll need a couple a people ta look outside, just in case! Sally, that’ll be you ‘n me! We’ll have my Crobat helpin’ too ta use Supersonic ‘n see if he can hear ‘em! Rest of you search every inch a this barn ‘til you find ‘em!”

“I can help too,” says Roxie. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them!”

“Thanks, Roxie!” says Shelley. “There are five of ‘em, so look hard!”

“Let’s go Sally!” Bo says urgently. “Right behind you, Pa!” Sally chimes in before the father and daughter head outside. Seems like the Gastly are playing Hide and Seek with everyone, including their mother!

What will Keith do? {If you’re willing to help, play Gastly’s Hidden Haunt and post your score along with your reply.}

After the delicious lunch, Keith happily accompanied the Bullwinkles out to the aptly named Venom Barn. Outside the barn was a sign posted, with a Koffing on it. Keith grinned at this nice touch, then entered the barn along with the rest of them. It smelled awful, but this was nothing new to Keith. Between the Weezing, the Gloom, the Skuntank, and the two different Grimer, he was no stranger to stench, and if anything, the stink made him feel more comfortable. As he spotted the Nidoqueen stables, Shelley warned him to not disturb the Nidoqueen, as they would be feeding their young around this time. Keith nodded his acknowledgement of this warning and instead looked at a large pen which housed numerous Ekans, Arbok, and Seviper, all of which Keith was familiar with. Some of them stared at him, flicking their tongues at him, and Keith vaguely wondered whether they could smell Nagini or Marvolo on him. Millie entered the pen and held a baby Ekans, which reminded Keith vividly of when Nagini was an Ekans, and he held her like that.

"Hauntaaa..." came a distressed voice from behind Keith, who spun around and couldn't help but smile as he noticed a Haunter. "Cool," Keith remarked, but quickly his expression turned to concern as it became clear that the Haunter was worried about something. Keith approached Bo and Shelley and asked them about it, at which point Shelly asked Rebecca if she had been playing with the Gastly and neglected to lock the door. Once Rebecca denied having done so, Roxie called out to Bo, bringing Keith's attention to a special pen. It was explained to Keith at this time that the ethereal barrier on the door prevented the Ghost-types from phasing out of their pen. Bo observed that the lock had worn through, and spoke up, asking everyone present for help in locating the Gastly. He stated that there were five of them in total.

"I'll help, too," Keith said once everyone else had chimed in. Indeed, once he had said this, he wandered around, looking everywhere he could, intent on finding as many of the Gastly as he could.

Swellow was really close to breaking free and getting out with a frozen lunch, so you and Swinub needed to make sure Surskit saw another day. So Swinub needed to start exploiting the type advantage he had as an Ice-type, and shot a chilling Beam straight into Swellow’s face, dealing a ton of damage. Meanwhile, Surskit was able to get its legs and half of its body free, but Swellow was feeling the pressure. Why deal with ice on its feet when it was close to losing consciousness? Swellow tries to Fly, but Swinub had other plans for Swellow and let loose a Shard of sharp Ice which shatters against the bird’s torso and causes it to drop to the ground unconscious! Swinub gains one level!

Now that Surskit was guaranteed safety from this predator, you could take the time to thaw it out, and with the Bug-type still able to help itself along, it isn’t long before you can shake all the ice off Surskit, though it finds itself very cold and exhausted. Suddenly, you see a man in his 30s dressed in a ranger’s outfit walk up to you. “Hello there!” he calls out to you. “I noticed the Swellow flying around, so I came to check things out. Great job saving that little one, by the way.” As he comes closer, he sees the little water strider shivering. “Hm, it looks pretty cold, and injured too. The outpost is a little far, though Surskit probably stands a better chance there than out here.” Then Surskit’s forehead starts to feel warmer. “Ah, it’s coming down with a fever! And I happen to be out of medicine; do you have something that could help with a fever?”

What will Alice do?

Alice was relieved that, soon enough, the Surskit was thawed out and safe from the knocked out Swellow. However, it was shivering away, and that wasn't good at all. The Ranger's compliment was an ego boost to be sure, but he had noticed the same problem she had, and now was not the best time to gloat.

"Ah..." The young girl slipped the backpack from her shoulder, unzipping it to look through her inventory, Swinub's keen nose at work. "I have a Castelia Cone. But I'm worried it's a bit too cold for that..." She offered, trailing off worriedly, "And I have two berries that can heal Surskit's health. I have a Torchic, too. Maybe the ice cream will be alright if Torchic helps Surskit warm up afterwards?" She considered hopefully, looking down at the pond dweller, "What do you say? Would you be up for it?"

((FML, can't believe I missed your update. It was posted in bloody November as well! I guess nothing can be done about it! And here're my stats.))

With Gary and his Blastoise imprisoned behind some magical stone wall that an awesome Hydro Pump couldn’t break, it was up to you and Minori to solve the puzzles of the Temple of the Lunar Magi and find the switch that would free them. You just hoped the puzzles wouldn’t be total brain teasers and stump you for time and eternity. As Minori swims further through the corridor, you see it’s just a straight shot for now, though there is the occasional window on the right side for you to look through. Each window gives its own view of the highly thrilling water slide you were on earlier. One window even shows you there was a fork in the slide; you must’ve been going so fast you didn’t even notice you went through it. From the way it was angled, you figured you took the right fork. For a moment, you were curious about what might’ve happened if you went left, but then you pictured the slide spiraling into nothingness and drove any remaining curiosity out of your mind.

You continue on, noting the prevalence of the Symbol of the Lunar Magi throughout the corridor until you finally reach a room with three more corrridors, one going straight, one to the left, and one to the right, and that didn’t count the one behind you. Great, were you supposed to just pick a path and hope you got lucky? You sigh and casually look up, trying to think about which path to take- oh wait, there’s a message on the ceiling:

Look ever for truth, walk uprightly, and right the downtrodden who have not looked up yet.

I guess that’s supposed to be a clue? Pretty cryptic one, if you ask me.

What will Noriko do?

Minori swam along the corridor with Noriko riding him in silence. The corridor was straight, but a bit cold and creepy as much as the mysterious ruins aroused her curiosity. Noriko looked at the walls, noticing a window looking at the Waterslide of Utter Horror the young trainer was more than willing to forget about. There were more windows further down and as the duo swam past them they took note of the waterslide forking – they had been a bit too busy being scared to death and nearly dying to see it themselves. Noriko and Minori had apparently gone down the right path earlier, and Noriko wondered for a brief moment how things would have turned out if they had gone left. It probably wasn’t anything good, most likely more Walls of Doom and other death traps. Or perhaps there would’ve been endless nothingness, with Noriko and Minori sliding into infinity…

Okay, bad train of thought. Minori stopped, almost as if on cue. They had been swimming along the corridor, following all the signs of Magis, but apparently they weren’t going to get to the switch that easily. They had arrived in a room with three ways to proceed: one on the left, right and in front of them straight forward. “Oh for Arceus’ sake… This is just brilliant. Any ideas, Minori?” The Seel shook his head, just as troubled by this predicament. Noriko let her head drop back, with her eyes closed, trying to think of a solution. Maybe ‘Eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ could work? She opened her eyes – and saw text up on the ceiling. Oh. Well, that’s awfully convenient. Noriko wasn’t about to complain though, instead busy reading:

Look ever for truth, walk uprightly, and right the downtrodden who have not looked up yet.

“Alright. All the rights are kind of making me lean that way, but…wait. I think I got this.” Minori looked up at his trainer with a quizzical look. “Minori, let’s head straight forward. I have this nagging feeling that we’re not done with forking rooms yet…” Minori started quietly swimming forward, deciding to trust his sometimes confusing trainer to make the right calls.

Jolteonjak & Son_of_Shadows – {@SoS: Well, Livewire wanted Steven back so he could mess with him more, that’s what fueled his determination! =P
@Jolteonjak: I’m going to rule that your using those items was done in between combats this time, but be careful with using items in the future, or they might count as moves and keep you from using attacks.
Oh, and since neither of you specified which Beedrill you wanted to target with your attacks I just RNG’d the targets. In the future, please specify if you want to target a specific Beedrill unless you’re using an attack that hits multiple targets. Thanks! =)}

The mission to diffuse a Beedrill war was successful as you had taken out the invading queen, but there were prisoners of war, one of them being Steven, Joshua’s Munna, and possibly Chad’s Numel, along with a Karrablast and Teddiursa each of you had met earlier. The Teddiursa, by the way, was wailing up a storm; she didn’t want to end up as “honey” for the hungry Weedle of this hive! You two needed to save this damsel in distress, along with the other Pokemon that were in danger. But first things first! Chad felt the need to heal up his Pokemon, so he tosses Wooper a Pecha Berry and an Oran Berry while he gave Heracross a Lemonade to drink. Heracross loved getting full health again, plus a fourth of his energy back, while Wooper was also relieved to have full health back AND not be sick from the poison (throwing up is not a good experience, kids!). Wait, what?

Heh, wow, those must’ve been some particularly potent berries Chad fed his Wooper because he’s evolving! The axolotl’s frills were disappearing, and he changed from one amphibian to another, one much more suited for land mainly because he grew arms and a stronger tail. A Quagsire! The other Pokemon all look on in awe at this event. Aegis especially was impressed; two evolutions, one after the other? Hardly a commonplace event!

Oh yeah, Numel was missing! Chad sends Heracross off to search for his missing comrade while the rest of the team set off to chase the Beedrill down. Joshua calls on Bishop to help out, though he’d need to watch on his energy. The Hoothoot is able to fly within attacking distance and Slash the Air to create a vacuum wave that hits the Beedrill holding the crying Teddiursa for some damage. Quagsire also gets in on the action by using the rest of his Psychic energy to fire another Psybeam at the Beedrill, and it hits the one holding Karrablast on its back causing it to cry out in pain, though it still maintains its hold on its captive. Quagsire tries again with a Scald attack, making sure not to hit one of the victims in the process, and he hits the Beedrill holding Steven right in the back of its head. The Beedrill are in full retreat mode now so none of them attack, but they started to gain some distance as you continued to give chase to them.

Aegis holds his chest as he tries to keep up with you; that crack in his shell was pretty nasty though nothing a stay at a Pokemon Center couldn’t fix. Livewire also had some trouble; he wasn’t going to be able to keep jumping to stay with the group. By the way, you found yourself back in the field, and just in front of the Beedrill was a brown and blue Numel that looked pretty beat up but still somehow able to stand and face a whole swarm coming at him.

What will Chad and Joshua do?

Joshua whooped as Chad's Wooper evolved to help combat the fleeing Beedrills. But despite their barrage, they were still getting away. But they would not escape with Steven, that, he was determined to make sure at the very least. As for the Teddiursa and Karrablast, well, ultimately they were taking second place for now. And then they spotted another Shiny Pokémon - two in one day? Whatever next? It was staring down a horde of Beedrill like a hardened badass, and Joshua could tell from Chad's expression that it was probably his. So they both had an owned Pokémon in need and a wild Pokémon in need. This was really getting silly now. Could they manage to save all four Pokémon and get out of this alive? Joshua wasn't entirely sure, but he wasn't about to take it lying down.

"Chad, I'll leave Numel to you. I'm getting my Munna back by hook or by crook." He zapped the Stunfisk back into his Pokéball and did some swift manoeuvring with his Pokédex to rotate his party. He was back now after all, and just in time. The team needed its ace pilot to chase down these Beedrill. Joshua threw the new Pokéball, and in a flash of light, a small, blue bird-like Pokémon with clouds for wings appeared. Cloudy the Swablu, fresh off a stay with a trainer named Marion. "Cloudy, use your Agility to chase down the Beedrill carrying Steven! Once you catch up, hit him with Acrobatics as hard as you can! Bishop, do your best to help Cloudy out - if you can catch the Beedrill carrying Karrablast, then get him with a close-range Air Slash!"

Dividing the load was their best bet. Joshua would deal with these two Beedrill. Hopefully Chad could handle saving his Numel... Then again... "Chad - take control of Aegis if you need to. He'll be happy to help." The Wartortle nodded, ready to fight alongside the other trainer. He knew he just wasn't fast enough to keep up with the Beedrill without being able to fly, after all. If he could protect another Pokémon on the ground, then he would do his part.

Originally Posted by scytherdude30
no no no you need an empoleon as your powerhouse da listen to me man I AM THE BOMB

Originally Posted by Zincspider

Yes, someone is getting 'killed'... HOORAY FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!....

Jolteonjak & Son_of_Shadows – {@SoS: Well, Livewire wanted Steven back so he could mess with him more, that’s what fueled his determination! =P
@Jolteonjak: I’m going to rule that your using those items was done in between combats this time, but be careful with using items in the future, or they might count as moves and keep you from using attacks.
Oh, and since neither of you specified which Beedrill you wanted to target with your attacks I just RNG’d the targets. In the future, please specify if you want to target a specific Beedrill unless you’re using an attack that hits multiple targets. Thanks! =)}

The mission to diffuse a Beedrill war was successful as you had taken out the invading queen, but there were prisoners of war, one of them being Steven, Joshua’s Munna, and possibly Chad’s Numel, along with a Karrablast and Teddiursa each of you had met earlier. The Teddiursa, by the way, was wailing up a storm; she didn’t want to end up as “honey” for the hungry Weedle of this hive! You two needed to save this damsel in distress, along with the other Pokemon that were in danger. But first things first! Chad felt the need to heal up his Pokemon, so he tosses Wooper a Pecha Berry and an Oran Berry while he gave Heracross a Lemonade to drink. Heracross loved getting full health again, plus a fourth of his energy back, while Wooper was also relieved to have full health back AND not be sick from the poison (throwing up is not a good experience, kids!). Wait, what?

Heh, wow, those must’ve been some particularly potent berries Chad fed his Wooper because he’s evolving! The axolotl’s frills were disappearing, and he changed from one amphibian to another, one much more suited for land mainly because he grew arms and a stronger tail. A Quagsire! The other Pokemon all look on in awe at this event. Aegis especially was impressed; two evolutions, one after the other? Hardly a commonplace event!

Oh yeah, Numel was missing! Chad sends Heracross off to search for his missing comrade while the rest of the team set off to chase the Beedrill down. Joshua calls on Bishop to help out, though he’d need to watch on his energy. The Hoothoot is able to fly within attacking distance and Slash the Air to create a vacuum wave that hits the Beedrill holding the crying Teddiursa for some damage. Quagsire also gets in on the action by using the rest of his Psychic energy to fire another Psybeam at the Beedrill, and it hits the one holding Karrablast on its back causing it to cry out in pain, though it still maintains its hold on its captive. Quagsire tries again with a Scald attack, making sure not to hit one of the victims in the process, and he hits the Beedrill holding Steven right in the back of its head. The Beedrill are in full retreat mode now so none of them attack, but they started to gain some distance as you continued to give chase to them.

Aegis holds his chest as he tries to keep up with you; that crack in his shell was pretty nasty though nothing a stay at a Pokemon Center couldn’t fix. Livewire also had some trouble; he wasn’t going to be able to keep jumping to stay with the group. By the way, you found yourself back in the field, and just in front of the Beedrill was a brown and blue Numel that looked pretty beat up but still somehow able to stand and face a whole swarm coming at him.

What will Chad and Joshua do?

Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows

Joshua whooped as Chad's Wooper evolved to help combat the fleeing Beedrills. But despite their barrage, they were still getting away. But they would not escape with Steven, that, he was determined to make sure at the very least. As for the Teddiursa and Karrablast, well, ultimately they were taking second place for now. And then they spotted another Shiny Pokémon - two in one day? Whatever next? It was staring down a horde of Beedrill like a hardened badass, and Joshua could tell from Chad's expression that it was probably his. So they both had an owned Pokémon in need and a wild Pokémon in need. This was really getting silly now. Could they manage to save all four Pokémon and get out of this alive? Joshua wasn't entirely sure, but he wasn't about to take it lying down.

"Chad, I'll leave Numel to you. I'm getting my Munna back by hook or by crook." He zapped the Stunfisk back into his Pokéball and did some swift manoeuvring with his Pokédex to rotate his party. He was back now after all, and just in time. The team needed its ace pilot to chase down these Beedrill. Joshua threw the new Pokéball, and in a flash of light, a small, blue bird-like Pokémon with clouds for wings appeared. Cloudy the Swablu, fresh off a stay with a trainer named Marion. "Cloudy, use your Agility to chase down the Beedrill carrying Steven! Once you catch up, hit him with Acrobatics as hard as you can! Bishop, do your best to help Cloudy out - if you can catch the Beedrill carrying Karrablast, then get him with a close-range Air Slash!"

Dividing the load was their best bet. Joshua would deal with these two Beedrill. Hopefully Chad could handle saving his Numel... Then again... "Chad - take control of Aegis if you need to. He'll be happy to help." The Wartortle nodded, ready to fight alongside the other trainer. He knew he just wasn't fast enough to keep up with the Beedrill without being able to fly, after all. If he could protect another Pokémon on the ground, then he would do his part.

With a newly evolved Quagsire by his side, Chad felt now was the time to look for Numel. After a quick refreshment, Heracross flew off to search the grounds around the hive. The last round of attacks to the Beedrill did very little to slow them down or even release their captives. Joshua ran ahead with his Hoot Hoot and Swablu, both attacking the Beedrill. Chad decided to get back into the battle to save little Teddiursa. As he and Joshua gave chase, they found themselves out of the hive. Chad looked through the fleeing Beedrill, and he could see something in the distance. Patches of blue on brown...NUMEL!

Chad noticed Aegis struggling to keep up with Joshua. "Chad. Take control of Aegis if you need to. He'll be happy to help," Joshua yelled back. Aegis nodded too.

"Got it!" he responded. "Let's see. Bubble could possibly slow them down. Aegis, use Bubble on the Beedrill holding Teddiursa. Then blast it (the same Beedrill) with Water Gun. Quagsire, try a Mud Bomb on the same Beedrill." Chad wondered if any of this would help. Or are the Beedrill just too far away for their attacks to have any effect? He didn't feel so bad, since Teddiursa wasn't one of his Pokemon compared to Joshua who's in danger of losing Steven. Still, she grew on him, and he was happy to help her collect those berries before all of this began. 'I wish there was a way to slow them down,' Chad thought to himself. Then, while looking at Numel, it hit him. "Numel, if you can hear me, Yawn! Yawn at all of the Beedrill with prisoners, but be careful not to hit Cloudy, the Swablu, or Bishop, the Hoot Hoot!" It worked once before against Queen Shiny. Maybe here too.

Chad hoped for the best. If this didn't work, he wondered if the Beedrill would succeed in escaping. Once again, Chad was down a Pokemon who was separated from the group. He thought he may try to call Heracross back. "Heracross! If you can hear me, follow the sound of my voice! Numel is over here!"

OK, last batch of updates for the month! After this I won't be working on any updates until Thanksgiving so I can devote more time to schoolwork, which gives the rest of you ample time to reply to your current update. Also, since Coolz is effectively done with his adventure (though he still has a zone capture he needs to snap up), I hereby welcome Meetan to my group! Hopefully, I can make your adventure enjoyable! =D

The Burial Ground

Marion Ette –

Now that you had your equipment it was time to get to work, and you start by preparing a small soil sample to undergo a microscopic scan. You also try multitasking a little by asking Priscilla about how necromancy is learned. “Well, the books say necromancy magic used to be taught by word-of-mouth and that only a select few people were privileged to learn it, see? Then, during the medieval era, the necromancers started to write down everything about the spells, including the materials required, the incantations, and the movements you needed to make, k? The writings were kept very secret since the general public felt it was evil magic, see, which it can be if used improperly or with the wrong motives. Since then, the writings have been passed down from generation to generation, k? So only a few families have access to the books, but anyone, if they study the books hard enough and practice them, can theoretically learn the spells, though it usually takes a few years for someone to learn even the simplest spells, right? We think it also takes an affinity towards necromancy, which I can see in you from the way you obviously love Ghost Pokemon.” she says to you before taking a wistful tone.

“As for me, my sisters and I have been thirty years into the study, k, and I’ve only been able to do simple spells like reviving dead seeds or purifying water, right? Between my studies and my training to become a stronger Misdreavus, I’ve been very busy, and I haven’t gotten far in either, k? Even Katia has been able to get ahead of me by learning some more advanced spells, right? But I’m not going to give up, see!? Not if I want to surpass my mom and my sisters, right!?” she finishes with confidence in her dreams.

Meanwhile, you start to look closer at your first sample, and it doesn’t seem like anything is moving, even when you switch to the higher magnifications, so you try a slightly bigger sample each time, until… there it was! This sample definitely moved, even if only a tiny bit! You look closer, expecting some sort of new organism, but what you saw intrigued you even more than a possible new organism. This was obviously a cellular organism, but it looked… dead. The nuclei in the organisms in the soil were completely missing! How could they possibly function without nuclei? You look even closer and find the answer even more unusual. There was something in the center of these organisms after all, but it didn’t look organic in the least. It looked like… toxins. Poisons bound together in combinations you’ve never seen, and the strangest part about it? The layout of these toxins looked disturbingly like a nucleus normally would. You looked at bigger samples and samples taken from different locations around the Burial Grounds, and it was clear this toxin was in the entire cemetery. Maybe this was how Maura and Anastasia were able to control their Poison-type minions so effectively?

What will Marion do, armed with this knowledge?

((Sorry for the long wait!! I have a personal rule that I do not respond to my own updates unless I am caught up with PI (unless it is a joint adventure where others count on me), so I've been out for awhile... I'm excited to continue my adventure, though~ :3))

As Marion carefully follows the steps required in order to prepare the sample for a full microscopic analysis, she listens to what Priscilla has to say about how necromancy is passed from practitioner to practitioner, originally from word-of-mouth and eventually through clandestine writings. Marion is particularly interested by the implication that she herself would likely have an affinity to necromancy, considering that she was a lover of ghost type Pokemon. The thought certainly filled her with curiosity and wonder... After all, she thoroughly enjoyed playing necromancer characters in roleplaying games and MMORPGs, and the thought of becoming one in real life filled her with images of herself in stunning makeup and beautiful, skin-tight black robes, ordering the dead around her laboratory as she worked on finishing her dissertation. Of course, she imagined that the necromancers of fantasy games would be considered abusers of the craft in the real world, and having a bunch of zombie slaves was probably not the best use of the magic. If anything, it was selfish and shallow. Marion chastises herself for thinking in such a way, resolving that if Priscilla's assessment of her affinity was true, that she would be sure to only use the power to benefit others as well as herself. Though she was no expert on magic, she had the sense that using powers selfishly was a surefire way to lead herself to ruin. It was true for Priscilla's older sisters, after all...

Priscilla continues to describe how she and her sisters have been studying necromancy for thirty years, and even after such a long time, she is only able to perform simple spells, such as revival of seeds and water purification. She explains that between her studies and the training of her corporeal form, it has been very difficult to become a powerful necromancer, though she dreams of becoming more powerful than her mother and sisters. In fact, it is clear by her words and the look in her eyes that she still has a great deal of hope for her future as a talented practitioner of the forbidden magic.

Marion takes a moment to turn to Priscilla with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure that, with enough dedication, you will surpass your mother and sisters one day! As long as you stay confident in yourself, I believe in you." Truly, Marion meant what she said. The Misdreavus she had befriended certainly seemed to have a unique spark of magic within her, and Marion hoped that Priscilla would foster that spark and allow it to grow into a full-grown flame.

Turning back to her research, Marion is discouraged by the lack of motion in the sample, until she turns the magnification to a higher resolution... There! It wasn't a dramatic movement, but indeed, there was some sort of motion in the sample. Turning the resolution even higher, the young researcher is excited at the prospect of finding a new organism to report to her superiors, only to find that the cellular being within the sample looked... well, dead. The nuclei were completely missing from the sample, and yet, the organism was still capable of motion. Even more fascinating that discovering a new species, Marion discovers an utterly strange truth about the motion within the soil... Poisons, bound together in ways beyond Marion's comprehension, were acting as the control mechanisms of the cells, causing them to move. To Marion, it seemed more like a zombification process than an actual return to life, but the discovery captured Marion's attention and filled her with excitement, despite the disturbing nature of the discovery. These toxins were abundant in the cemetery, and may help explain what the evil Mismagius and Gengar were manipulating in order to bring the poisonous creatures to life.

"Hmmm..." Marion seems lost in thought. If Priscilla was indeed right about Marion having a propensity for necromancy, perhaps she herself could try and use magic to purify the poisonous ground. Granted, even if she were able to figure out how to destroy these organisms, Maura and Anastasia had many, many years of experience on her, which would likely mean more minions than she could possibly destroy. Even worse, by unraveling the chemical makeup of these special toxins, she would have no evidence to show the researchers back home of her amazing discovery... but perhaps there were some discoveries better left concealed from curious academics. Marion tries to build confidence in her plan by reminding herself that she has one advantage that Maura and Anastasia didn't; she was a scientist, and thus, she likely understood the mechanizations of the magic better than the two ghostly sisters, who relied on cryptic textbooks and rituals to hone their powers. Also, there was something to be said for a natural affinity... Of course, Anastasia and Maura likely had an affinity, too. It was a long shot, but if Marion could tap into her own talent, perhaps that would be the key to defeating Maura and Anastasia. "I have an idea," is all she says to Priscilla, before mellowing into a state of mental emptiness.

Having had some experience with meditation, Marion closes her eyes, clearing her mind of all thought... doubts and fears, concerns and facts, everything slipped away as she wiped her mind clean, as if clearing off a cluttered desk in order to begin a new project. Refocusing herself on the sample before her, she considers the toxins, their chemical makeup somehow bringing life to dead organic matter, and how it must be for these poisons to mimic their organic counterparts. She tries to get into the mindset of a double, a poisonous doppelganger, a mimicry of life itself... She tries to bury her mind deep within that soil, channeling the toxins within. She tries, with all of her concentration and focus, to make them move more violently; to shake as if their very pseudo-lives depended on it. She opens a single eye to look into the microscope, allowing herself to visually focus on the toxins which acted as the source of the necromancer's power. If she could purify those toxins from the soil, destroy them and break the chains that acted as false nuclei, she could potentially bring peace to the Burial Ground once more... Or at the very least, cripple Maura and Anastasia enough that Priscilla and the others would be able to help her take them down.

Arc Angel: The war had reached a climatic finale, chaos was erupting below and Syrian had revealed his final gambit. The Griseous Orb was suspended over the great valley like a flashing beacon, it’s blinking so erratic it merged into a whitish blur. Your eyes home in on it greedily, relapsing into obsession with the fate of the world at stake. The mesa starts to rumble, striking silence on the splinter group of Shadow Pokémon who hadn’t succumb to Iris’s wrath. The tremor breaks before another aftershock. An Earthquake? Or something huge approaching? With the Renegade Pokémon only seconds away you cast your raw inhibition aside and whip up a plan of action. Valentine receives your mental signal loud and clear, somewhat at odds with your motives but unquestionably loyal. Blades still dripping with amphibian blood, he switches into an en garde position and winces in concentration. Your eyes travel from Valentine’s, which were glazed in Psychic energy, down the plateau toward the relic – as though an invisible lasso had been slung between the two. But nothing happens... The ghostly orb was immune to the warrior’s telekinetic prowess. If you wanted to separate Syrian and the Orb you’d have to do it the hard way.

‘If you want a job done right...’, Valentine starts – a streak of confidence in his tone as he breaks into a run. The knight’s nimble footsteps were impossible to make sound of under the cult leader’s hysteria. He was powerless to stop you both... or that’s what you thought. As Valentine drew his blades over his head Syrian’s laughter falters. The rest seems to play out in slow motion; Gallade lunges forward, Slashing his swords through the cold mist - but Syrian twists his body, dodging both blades by the skin of his teeth. Time spins back to normal and the two are stood inches apart, Syrian’s breathing noticeably accelerated with Valentine showing no sign of weakness. After a pause which seemed to last for minutes, the demon breaks the silence with a guffaw. His dilated pupils became focused again as the sinister aura that struck fear in your heart begins to rush back to him. Valentine wasn’t so fazed, a glare on his face running a lot deeper than today’s battle - he had a vendetta to settle.

“You really think you can overpower me?” Syrian goaded, “try it you filthy creature...” Valentine had grown stronger and more valiant than you could’ve possibly imagined, traits of his shrewd mother pumping through his veins. But some strain of wildness from his father’s side is enough for him to take the bait. With a clench of fist his eyes flicker a blue aura, channelling all his psychic energy into Confusing the demon and driving him to insanity. But Syrian wasn’t bluffing - a flicker of concentration in his pupils as they engaged in a mental duel. Your heart skips a beat as Gallade’s face crinkles in deep meditation, gritting his teeth as he braced his feet firmly in the ground. The invisible forces at odds with each other gave you nothing to go off, but with each low grunt courtesy of Valentine you felt all the hope he’d filled you with start to ebb away. The Blade Pokémon falls to his knees, beads of sweat dripping down his face as the mental link shatters. Your nursing instincts are begging you to rush to his aide, but he raises a hand in protest. A loud gasp pierces the cold air as he grips his chest and falls on his side, eyes wide in shock.

’Stay back’, he splutters. Rolling onto his front he tries to support himself, but the pain in his heart is too much to bear. With realisation that this was the end, he looks on you with a brave stare, ‘There is always hope. That’s what my father taught me...’ Valentine’s eyes close and his grip on his chest slackens. And as though death wasn’t punishment enough, his transformation begins. Darkness spreads like an infection corrupting his heart down the tip of his blades, washing out all colours. With your muscles locked up in grief you can only bear witness as the warrior awakens a dark knight, his eyes a bloodcurdling red without a trace of familiarity. Valentine rises, bent on one knee as he bows to his new master. And then the realisation sinks in that your greatest ally in the war had become your deadliest enemy. Syrian’s laughter is like a kick in the stomach, and with the orb in his clutches and burning brighter than ever everything else seems trivial. The earth starts to drum like a beating heart, and the realisation that the apocalypse was dawning is swept away by the ghostly basilisk ripping through the charred trees at the peak of the valley like matchsticks!

GYAGOHOOO!

It’s cry commanded power, striking an emotion closer to awe than fear. Its gold accents looked silver under the pale moonlight, its red stripes and wing tips glowing luminous scarlet in contrast to its body. Its light broke down on the vale, showing just how effortlessly the goddess had decimated the Shadow army with the dregs of her power. Whilst Iris had kept her end of the bargain, you failed to stop Syrian whose eyes were smouldering with lust, “Giratina! Ruler of the reverse world, I have summoned you! Bend to my will!” You squint toward the far-off dragon, and swear you could see a glint of loathing in its eye. This makes no difference however, the legendary conscious of the Griseous Orb in his possession which its will was bound to. Moments pass and the renegade Pokémon flickers a blinding white. Blinking away the spots you notice the silhouette’s features become more streamlined, its legs morphing into spikes and its broad wings splitting into wispy streamers. As the glow runs off its body you notice its mouth appears more insect-like, its serpentine body kicking off into the air until it was spiralling around the centre of the valley.

“One more thing before we go my pet”, Syrian interrupted with a casual air, “There’s a few individuals in the Shadows which I need you to Force out”. The legend lowered its head in servitude, diving into the vale until he was immersed in pitch black. You crawl toward the cliff edge, eyes sweeping over the drop that the magnificent beast had just phased into. You quickly spot a pair of red eyes stalking through the shadows, first heading toward the crash site for Shaymin before creeping up to the vantage point where you had last seen Iris. It was over in a flash - before it could sink in who the shadow was homing toward next. The same solid-yet-ethereal feeling of the orb overcomes you as the Giratina bounds you tight in one of its streamers, capturing the entire resistance force in one fell swoop. The renegade Pokémon had phased out of the Shadow Force, and was drifting above the vale once again. Your feet dangle weightlessly as you stare down at the thousand-foot drop. Shaymin was bound in the streamer beside you with the other four each restraining one of Iris’s limbs - despite the fact she was too drained to put up a fight. Screaming for help was futile; all you could do now was embrace your fate. The spiralling motion continued until a portal started to churn below, reaching the width of the vale, which explained the choice of location. Syrian’s wicked cackle was back in earshot as he mounted the dragon’s crown and you quickly have to avert your attention from the painful sight of Valentine clinging to his side. You catch sound of Syrian’s signal and Giratina suddenly drops, veering into the vortex at blinding speed and whisking you into oblivion...

The Distortion World

The uncharacteristic scream of Iris rouses you, and the flashes of the day’s events fill your every bone with renewed fear and despair. “Valentine, guard the dead girl. She can not interfere with my sacrifice”, you strain your ears to listen out for more, the rest of your senses quickly returning. You open your heavy eyes to a world nothing like your own... The skies were painted an ominous lavender, with the land hung eerily in space. Dark tree roots rippled through several of the orangey pathways, which seemed to spiral into different directions. A distant cascade seems to be flowing sideways - the laws of physics didn’t apply here. Focusing back on your mission, you spot four of Giratina’s streamers drifting idly... Syrian must have taken Iris! Shaymin tried to wrestle free before cleverly reverting to her smaller Land Forme. You try grabbing its attention but the hedgehog leaps off the back of the basilisk plummeting into the dark abyss to what looked like its death, but you couldn’t be sure of anything here. Your eyes sweep across where you were docked, a pathway leading to a chain of rocks laid out like skipping stones which led out toward the purple yonder. Minutes roll by as you regress further into depression, your own demons keeping the outside world at bay until-

Boink!

If you were still alive the force of that rock would’ve knocked you dead. You look above for a floating platform it could’ve broken off of, but there was nothing but purple space. A strange yet familiar cry grabs your attention ahead. The relic was suspended an inch from your face, covered in strange markings and glowing with purple energy - it was an old keystone! The stone rears back and Reaper spews free from it with a wicked smile. Reuniting with your friend causes a flame within you to ignite, but before he has a chance to cut you free a handsome voice rattles through your skull to stamp out the cinders. ’You really were a selfish bitch, Stacey. Because of you everyone I loved is dead, and now I’m going to make sure you suffer’. Valentine suddenly Teleports into view, balanced on the tip of the passive dragon’s tail with his red cloak billowing against the shifting gravity. His eyes set on you and Reaper as he poises himself to strike, what will you do?

The Grecious Orb hung in the air throbbing with raw power, intensely with a golden light. Stacey felt her need growing, it was begging her to take it, to hold it and experience its power and warmth. The battle below them looked to be coming to bloody end with Iris and Shaymin on the attack taking out as many Shadow Pokemon as they could. Suddenly the earth began to quake violently, an earthquake or something more dangerous? Giratina was nearly here, they had to act now!

'Valentine...'

He had heard his orders loud and clear and although he doubted her motives for obtaining the orb his loyalty to her was enough to follow orders regardless. He crossed his blades, still dripping with the blood of the Toxicroak, and used his Psychic to try and gain a hold on the orb and bring it to his mistress. The orb appeared to be immune to his powers and it remained in the monster's grasp. Valentine was not one to give up however and if his Psychic powers were not enough, he would have to get his blades dirty again. He charges towards Syrian his feet barely touching the ground with his speed making not a single sound, a stealthy warrior approaching his unsuspecting victim. Syrian was too deep in his hysteria to notice the Gallade leaping up into the air his blades out ready to Slash the orb from his hands. Stacey felt sure that this would work, the demon had no time to react, he was going to fall just like his vile toad but what happened next would haunt her forever.

Syrian's incessant cackling ceased and time appeared to slow down as Valentine swept his blades forward in an arc barely missing Syrian who moved out the way with milliseconds to spare. Valentine landed deftly burning a hole in Syrian who began to laugh again at the futile efforts. Stacey felt her heart sink further, how could he have seen that coming? How could he have dodged the attack? The shadowy aura returned around Syrian licking out at the air like a living creature as he taunted Val, daring him to try once more. Val gave it only a second thought, the stoic nature of his mother telling him to think it over but his father's wild side begging him to give him what he was asking for.

Valentine concentrates hard using his Confusion to try and send Syrian's mind into a crazed frenzy hoping to drive him insane but the demon appeared to be meeting him with a mental assault of his own. Stacey stared on at the mental struggle between demon and Pokemon praying that her gallant warrior would prevail but with every grunt of effort, every crease on his brave face now racked with pain she felt all hope begin to fade. He fell to his knees gasping having lost the fight before falling to the ground grabbing his chest in agony. Stacey began to crawl towards him wanting to at least comfort her poor Pokemon to beg for forgiveness and face the end together but he held his arm up halting her approach. He rolls onto front trying to get back up but collapses totally spent. Stacey felt fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, how had she let it come to this? How had she failed her Pokemon so?

‘There is always hope. That’s what my father taught me...’

"Val..." she whispered her throat swelling up and her voice failing her as he closed his eyes for the last time. She reached out a hand to her dead Gallade when suddenly darkness erupted from his chest covering his body. She gasped and backed away looking on in horror at the transformation he was undertaking. She had seen the skin tone before, how dare that demon defile his body like this. He was dead leave him be!!! But the transformation completes and Valentine opens his eyes now a blood red and rises to his feet before bowing to his new master, he was now a Shadow too. Stacey felt her heart couldn't hurt any more than it could now as Syrian's laughter pierced through it like a red-hot knife. Her one hope in this battle was gone, in his place a shadow, a vile corruption of a wonderful Pokemon. The earth shook with greater intensity and fervour as Giratina finally made its arrival. There was nothing left to do but watch the world fall now.

It appeared in all its glory and despite the situation, despite the hopelessness the roar of power it gave still send goose-pimples down Stacey's skin. Its presence was awe-inspiring and although her body was collapsed and broken down with her failure her eyes held a slight sparkle at seeing the ultimate ghost Pokemon in all its glory. Its gold ribbing looked silver in the moonlight, its red wing tips glowed brightly in the darkness. Its power illuminated the valley below and there Stacey could see how hard Iris and Shaymin had fought to decimate the Shadow army .... oh how she had put her faith in the wrong person. She had failed in her plan, she had failed everyone and everything tonight. Syrian's voice rang out shattering the illusion that perhaps the dragon had arrived to stop him.

“Giratina! Ruler of the reverse world, I have summoned you! Bend to my will!”

Stacey squinted at the dragon in the distance and could swear she saw loathing in its eyes but they flickered towards the Grecious Orb in Syrian's grasp, it could not disobey those who held the orb, its will was tied to it. Its body glowed a fierce white before it began to transform into its Reverse Form, its feet disappearing until a sleeker more slender form appeared with wispy long wings. It took to the skies circling the valley as Syrian's voice called out again.

“One more thing before we go my pet”, Syrian interrupted with a casual air, “There’s a few individuals in the Shadows which I need you to Force out”. Stacey felt a thread or anger at the word 'pet' this was a living God, it certainly was no-one's pet even if Syrian believed so. She crawled to the edge of the cliff edge watching as Giratina dove into the shadows of the earth. Her eyes searched for it before she saw a pair of red eyes moving in the darkness firstly towards Shaymin's crash site, then moving swiftly towards where she had last seen Iris and then they were gone. Her eyes searched out for it when she felt a solid form around her waist pinning her arms to her side. She looked down to the black wispy material now surrounding her and before she can utter a word she is ripped from the ground into the air captured by Giratina who re materialised Shaymin and Iris were also held captive by the Godly dragon in its tendril. Stacey didn't dare look down, she felt so high up in the air, even though she was dead she didn't want to experience another fall.

Stacey felt the hopelessness surround her and as she heard Syrian's God awful laughter fill the air again as he leapt onto Giratin'a crown, her warrior ... ex-warrior clinging to his side she closed her eyes as tears spoke louder than words. She didn't see the portal open up beneath them all she felt was the drop in her belly as she was dragged into the unknown.

Stacey heard a screaming nearby and groaned wishing that who ever it was would shut up, they were disturbing her sleep. She sighed and opened her eyes before they widened to a comical size as she recalled what had happened. That was Iris screaming!! What could have been worse than what had already happen. A new fear filled her belly and she heard Syrian speak again.

“Valentine, guard the dead girl. She can not interfere with my sacrifice”. Sacrifice? Who was being sacrificed? She tried to listen out for more but as her vision began to clear she stared up from her lying position to a world nothing like her own. Her vision was filled by a purple sky, and as feeling returned to her body she turned her head to see masses of land hovering in the ghostly sky and orangey paths appeared to spiral around the air with dark tree roots wrapping around them. It was if she was tripping from a bad high, but was this ... the reverse world? Stacey looked around again to see Giratina floating in the air, 4 of its streamers empty now, Syrian must have taken Iris ... oh no ... she wasn't the sacrifice was she?Shaymin struggled against the streamer restraining him before cleverly shrinking to his Land Forme slinking out of the chains and leaping away.l Stacey tried to signal him with a wave and whispering his name but he was focused on something else and leaps off Giratina's body into a black abyss ... OMG was he all right? With the impending death of his master was he hoping to join her.

Now she was all alone again and looking where she was sat she saw an orange pathway spiralling out before dissolving into small rocks floating in the air like skipping stones before fading into the purple nothingness. She began to think on how hopeless this all seemed again. She drew her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, she couldn't help Iris, her Gallade was dead and now a shadow of his former self. She would have ordinarily revealed in the weird world that was ruled by Giratina but what was the point. She was a living corpse left to watch everything else around her die. This was so unfair, could she just not be allowed to cross over, she couldn't do anything else to help only watch the destruction. Why couldn't she just be with her family, what had she done to suffer so?

Suddenly something hard whacked her across the head and she hissed in pain moving her hands to her noggin searching for a lump. That really hurt, had she not been dead that would have been enough to finish her off. Wait, she was a ghost, what the hell could have hit her? It drew her out of her self-pity and wallowing to search the skies for where the rock could have come from but there was no land above her. Casting her eyes down she saw the rock floating before her with strange runes across its surface. Her eyes widened and her heart beat a little faster ... it was a keystone! Suddenly Reaper's form erupted from the small hole on top his purple face with its grinning green mouth and eyes stared at her and she gave choking laugh before trying to grab for the keystone but she was still restrained. Still her small smile remained as she took in his form, oh how she had missed him.

"Oh Reaper, oh am I so glad you're all right, I thought I'd never see you again." Reaper looked a little uncomfortable, he had never heard such words from his mistress before and several voices whispered out each arguing with the other. He looks down to her bonds and he whispers grow louder but he silences them before looking to free her, it was pointless her being bound at this time despite how ironic it felt. Suddenly a voice fills her mind full of hatred, dripping with venom making her wince.

’You really were a selfish bitch, Stacey. Because of you everyone I loved is dead, and now I’m going to make sure you suffer’. She looked up to see Valentine poised on Giratina's tail looking ready to strike the pair of them. The hatred she felt flowing from him like the vile darkness around his heart cut hers to pieces. What could she do for him now? But ... but ... no now she had a third chance, Reaper was here with her and she could fail him too. There was hope once again they could finish this and now save Iris.

She looked up to Valentine who was about to move and spoke to him in her mind.

'I am sorry ... for what I have done, for what I am about to do I am sorry Val. I never meant for any of this to happen but I cannot let you do this. This is not you and I know it would kill you to see what you had become' Her eyes shed tears but she never looked more determined. 'For all those that we have lost together, for your mother and father, for Impish and for your soul we will stop you and your master. If you are still in there anywhere you will stop yourself, see what you are about to do. I cannot sit and feel guilty any more. I failed you and your team-mates yes but I have to try and make it right. Reaper and I will make it right together, join us or fall.' She sounded more confident than she felt. Valentine was a powerful Pokemon, even more so now he was a Shadow Pokemon but she had to have faith that Reaper could hold his own. He was one of her Ghosts and she had spent her life building them, training them, working with them to help them become what they are today. She would trust his ability to defence them both.

She ran through Reaper's attacks in her mind, they seemed so few in comparison to the arsenal Valentine had but the amount was not what mattered, it was how they used them.

"He's going to attack us regardless Reaper, I know you can hold him back. Let him come and use Sucker Punch to give him the first surprising blow. Follow up with Spite to drain his energy and follow up with Curse. We need an advantage and that will be it. Don't worry about freeing me, as long as you survive to save Iris that will be enough".

Stacey cast a view to her approaching Gallade hoping that he would see sense even though her heart knew better.

Jak's Astoria Update #13

A couple things. First, for those of you in a battle; just a reminder that you can order 3 attacks per Pokemon in a single battle, 2 attacks per Pokemon in a double or triple battle. Second, it seems some of you have changed your nicknames. Of course I don't have a problem with that, but please let me know in your replies who you used to be.

Charminions: With both foes disposed of, Pigkey concentrates again on the scent of the exotic berries Viola is seeking. The fierceness of your opponent convinced you earlier to capture her. Now that she lies on the ground, you capitalize on the chance to capture her. You throw the enlarged Pokeball at her, and its capture beam goes right to work assimilating the Nidoran.

Out of the corner of your eye you notice Pigkey waving an arm and hopping. You notice she is careful not to make any noise. Turning around you see the incapacitated Mightyena, eyes tightly shut, sniffing around furiously for your whereabouts. Meanwhile, the Pokeball you threw, which was wobbling back and forth, has stopped. That familiar bell-sounding tone rings. Your capture of the Lv.7 Nidoran (F) is successful. With the paralysis wearing slowly wearing off of Mightyena, you make your final preparations and take off following Pigkey. She takes to the trees once again for ease of travel, though, careful not to get too far ahead of you.

The three of you travel for what seems like hours. There was so much forest to get through! Along the way you'd spot various bugs. A Butterfree and Beautifly both fly around playfully, darting in between trees surprising each other. Further along you see a Kricketune sparring with a Leavanny. Aside from the bugs you notice a herd of Deerling and Sawsbuck prancing along with a Stantler or two.

Eventually Pigkey jumps down from the trees. She smells the air. She looks around anxiously. She walks over towards the edge of the forest, towards some bushes. When you follow her, you spot some tan pear-shaped berries with brown spots. Excited, you reach out to grab one, but before you can separate it from its stem, the berry falls apart completely unusable. You wonder what to do next. While you're thinking you see a blue feather on the ground near the bushes. Trying a few more times results in the same mushy piles of berry on the ground. You begin to run out of ideas but luckily not the berries. You count four bushes nearby with these berries. There may be more, but they're not bearing any berries. It may behoove you, however, to know some more information about this mystery berry.

What will you do?

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Myahoo: You began to wonder if the storm had passed by. Chloe was still tending to Wildfire. Wings was relaxing as best it could amidst all of the squabbling the two Pidove were doing. You could hear Chloe sighing while she was treating Wildfire. The third Pidove continued to worry, at times stepping between the two arguers. The echoing of their cries was starting to get on your nerves. Chloe sighed again. Then finally, "Wings, can you please see if you can calm them down?"

Wings approached the Pidove and began talking to the arguing birds. The third Pidove responded to Wings. Naturally you couldn't understand what was said. All you could see is that the Pidove would say something then point to one Pidove, then say somthing else and point to the other Pidove. "Thank you Wings!" she said relieved. Your concentration was broken when she spoke to you, "Ok Melissa. Wildfire should be just fine. Luckily he didn't take too much damage. A good night's sleep should get him back to 100%. Now I wonder what they're on about."

Wildfire jumped down and joined the birds conversing. He was listening as best he could while Chloe was treating him, but now he could get the story in more detail. After a few minutes of chat, Wings and the Pidove stopped. Wings returned to Chloe's side, and Wildfire returned to yours. He thought for a moment and then with your attention he attmepted to explain. Wings was already speaking with Chloe.

Wildfire first pointed at the Pidove who were recently arguing, then to himself. Then he pointed to the third Pidove and then crossed his arms together like he was embracing himself all the while batting his eyes. Next he pointed at the arguing Pidove on the left. He jumped through the air with his arms spread as far apart as he could manage. When he landed he immediately pointed to the third Pidove, crossed his arms again like just before, and rushed over to Wings and grabbed its wing.

"Interesting," Chloe remarked after listening to what Wings told her and seeing Wildfire grab Wings. "Know what this means Melissa?" At that point the female Pidove and the male she chose flew out of the cave together. The remaining Pidove looked upset. He looked at you and Wildfire and forced a smile. He cooed something and immediately approached Wings, his eyes glowing. Wings watched, and you could see Wings slowly fall to sleep. The Pidove's hypnosis put Wings to sleep. "Wings, wake up!" Chloe cried. "What am I going to do? I only brought Wings with me on this trip and Boldore is too injured to be of any use." It seems this Pidove still had some fight left in him.

What will you do?

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OkikuMew: Standing amongst four yellow Apricorn trees, you gaze at the first one and wonder which of the three Apricorns it yields is the ripe one. You think about climbing the tree to test all of the Apricorns. The thought of the climb, however, worries you about a fall; so you decide to enlist the help of some of your other team members. Tossing a couple Pokeballs in the air, a small bird and ghost appear. They receive clear instructions to watch you in case you fall.

You begin to climb the tree for your first yellow Apricorn. Spi has already flown up to the branch, and he watches you inquisitively. Omen, on the other hand, is floating up behind you. You safely make it up onto the branch, and you slowly scooch along it to the Apricorn for inspection. After tapping that one, you discover the dense sound of an unripe Apricorn. Slightly dismayed, you scoot back over to the tree trunk.

You look up at the highest Apricorn then over to the other one, wondering which to go for next. Spi flies up to an upper branch near the Apricorn and looks down staring at you, but you don't notice. Carefully you meander over to the other side of the tree. Again you scoot over towards the Apricorn with Omen by your side. You take the opportunity, now, to look down to see what Max is up to, in the event you had to climb to the top. Sure enough, Max is underneath you looking straight up faithfully watching you. A test of this Apricorn, once again, yields an unripe result.

The thought of climbing up to the top of the tree worries you greatly. As luck would have it though, the branches leading up the tree were not spaced too far apart. The climb up was relatively easy, and you meet Spi who was watching you the whole time. He hops over to the edge of the branch next to the Apricorn. You slowly walk out on a lower branch while holding on to the branch above you. The branch begins to bend as you test the Apricorn, so you decide to work fast. The Apricorn returns that familiar metallic hollow sound. You quickly snip the Apricorn the way Andersen explained it and stuff it in your pocket. You're careful again as you make your way down the tree with Omen still by your side and Spi hopping from branch to branch.

With one last leap you land on solid ground. You grab your things and approach the next tree. Circling the tree, you count five Apricorns that seem ready for testing. Some of the Apricorns are roughly in the same position as the first tree, some are higher; but none of them are as high as the one you collected. Your feeling of accomplishment from the first tree convinces you to immediately start climbing this tree; however, you soon discover that Max isn't with you. You seem to have a choice on your hands - collect your next Apricorn or look for Max.

What will you do?

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The Mystic Jungle

~Forgotten Ruins~

Allishinca: Things really heated up while you began your second challenge. The room continues to heat up, yet your surroundings aren't catching fire or suffering any damage. The heat around you builds, as does the pressure within you while you work the answer to Beheeyem's riddle out. After narrowing the possibilities down to two, you and Pluto discuss them at length. Pluto, however, is sure he knows the answer; and he convinces you to go with it.

"Mr. Guardian, we think the answer for your riddle this time is... Snorunt!" you boldly offer an answer.

Beheeyem reappears with his familiar snapping sound. "Two for two. Good for you!" Beheyeem replies. With a wave of his arm the door in front of you opens. The heat of the room begins to waft outward, and the temperature drops slightly. "It seems I can't escape this infernal rhyming. Now, I can assure you the next challenge won't be so easy. After you." Beheeyem bows as you and Pluto leave the blazing room.

You immediately feel relief as you exit. Beheeyem disappears at the same time. Like before, the torches on the wall all light up. After a few moments, you begin your journey down the hall. As time goes by, you realize this hall is longer than the first. You wonder how much longer it'll be when you come to the end. Instead of another room, however, you see the hall has split into two different paths. One of the paths, though, is mostly blocked by a large boulder. Down the available path, you see the familiar torch light showing you the way.

Easily you decide to take the second path. The path snakes through the mountain, and at some point, you feel as if you're walking back to the beginning. Around one final corner you see faint light amidst the torch light. As you approach that light you also start to feel a breeze. It feels like the outside. A little closer now, and you can confirm it's a way out. While you wonder if this is where you should be, Beheeyem confirms it. "And where are you going?" Beheeyem appears behind you. "You're not done yet." After you explain the boulder, the Cerebral Guardian shrinks back a little embarassed. "Really? I thought I... I can't believe..." Beheeyem disappears very quickly; the snap much louder this time. It seems Beheeyem gave you another option, even if it did not intend to.

What will you do?

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~Waterfall Valley~

Myrrh: As Aubrey leads you back to his camp, you make some small talk. You find out he's originally from Lilycove City, but now he lives in Anville Town. He has competed in numerous contests in the Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto regions. He even won the Grand Festival in the Johto region! "Eventually I want to take on the Sinnoh region, but I really need to train harder. The current champion there, Jessica and her Delibird, are quite a strong pair," Aubrey explained. He pushes some brush aside, "Here we are." You look at his camp. There's a tent set up with a small campfire between a couple logs. "Make yourself at home."

You sit on one of the logs and relax. Aubrey hands you a plate. "Here. I don't have much in the way of food, but these Oran berries should help your Pokemon recover a bit. And for you, you like apples, right?"

"So you know how contests work right? Appeals round; then a battle round." He walks away from his tent and the campfire. "Let me show you an appeal. This was the one I used in my last doubles contest in Lavender Town."

Aubrey takes two Pokeballs from his belt. They were both different shades of blue with white. One of them had black cross-hatches over the blue, and the other had waves of darker shades of blue. He throws the wavy Dive Ball first, then the Net Ball. "Surskit! Masquerain! Center stage!" he calls out. The Dive Ball bursts open first releasing some multi-colored bubbles and finally his Surskit appears. It spins through the air and landed on its back feet and bows. The Net Ball snaps open releasing a dark net of energy, which was surrounding his Masquerain. Masquerain comes into view hovering with its wings barely flapping. Its antennae were fully stretched up so that they were against its horn. With one flap, Masquerain shifts its antennae downward and froze in the air looking like an angry pair of eyes. Masquerain's spectacle startles you a bit. Then the net energy from the Net Ball encompassed the bubbles from the Dive Ball to pop them all, before dissipating, for a pre-appeal show.

"See? Appeals aren't just about beauty," Aubrey explains. "There are all kinds of ways to show off your Pokemon's uniqueness. Now, this is the appeal that I used in the last contest I won. Surskit, release some Bubbles! Masquerain gather them up with Tailwind!" Surskit starts things off by firing off many bubbles into the air, all uniform in size. The bubbles begin to float away; but Aurbrey's Masquerain flies through the barrage of bubbles, careful not to get hit by any of them. Once it emerges to the other side of the bubble field, the red spots on its antennae begin to glow; and the wind picks up. It blows through the bubbles carrying them towards Masquerain, who seems to receive a speed boost from this wind as well. The effect of this was that Masquerain appeared to have a tail of bubbles. Every now and then rays of sunlight would get caught in the bubbles becoming spots of different colors.

"Next freeze them with a powerful Blizzard! Finally Surskit, pop them all with Swift!" Masquerain quickly circles around to get behind the newly created "bubble wind." The Eyeball Pokemon begins to glow a very light blue color. From the horn on its head, it fires a ray of ice energy into the tailwind, changing it into a powerful blizzard. The blizzard storms through the bubbles freezing them instantly. Surskit then jumps in the air and tilts to its side. It spins in the air releasing the speedy stars known as Swift. The stars all slice through the frozen bubbles. The bubbles burst into tiny ice particles; and as they fall through the air, they grab sunlight causing them to sparkle in different colors.

Finally Aubrey, Surskit, and Masquerain bow. "Beautiful as always! Thank you both." He sits on the log opposite you. His Surskit scuttles over to the log and sits on the portion furthest away from the fire. Masquerain finds a rock to rest on. "My interest in Surskit and Masquerain stemmed from watching a coordinator on TV, Drew, with his Masquerain at the Hoenn Grand Festival. That appeal was in honor of him."

Just then, the rock Masquerain was sitting on starts shifting. That startles Masquerain, who flies up to a branch to safety. Both you and Aubrey's eyes catch this, and you're surprised to see the rock grow four legs, the two front ones larger than the back two. The Dwebble under the rock looks upset at being disturbed, and it throws a rock at Aubrey hoping to smack him down to the ground. Dwebble scurries off. The rock didn't even come close to hitting him. "Going to be that way, huh?" he responds. Aubrey takes a Pokeball off his belt and throws it. "Ursaring, center stage!" Out of the Pokeball, a tall bear emerges; but this was no ordinary bear. Ursaring was black! Before you could even ask, Aubrey yells, "I'll explain later! I'm going to take care of this Dwebble!" Aubrey and Ursaring run after the Dwebble, and Masquerain follows leaving you and Aubrey's Surskit behind; the latter, who'd taken a nap.

You're put in a slightly awkward position. Stay and relax or go watch?

~Adventure Path~Charminions: With both foes disposed of, Pigkey concentrates again on the scent of the exotic berries Viola is seeking. The fierceness of your opponent convinced you earlier to capture her. Now that she lies on the ground, you capitalize on the chance to capture her. You throw the enlarged Pokeball at her, and its capture beam goes right to work assimilating the Nidoran.

Out of the corner of your eye you notice Pigkey waving an arm and hopping. You notice she is careful not to make any noise. Turning around you see the incapacitated Mightyena, eyes tightly shut, sniffing around furiously for your whereabouts. Meanwhile, the Pokeball you threw, which was wobbling back and forth, has stopped. That familiar bell-sounding tone rings. Your capture of the Lv.7 Nidoran (F) is successful. With the paralysis wearing slowly wearing off of Mightyena, you make your final preparations and take off following Pigkey. She takes to the trees once again for ease of travel, though, careful not to get too far ahead of you.

The three of you travel for what seems like hours. There was so much forest to get through! Along the way you'd spot various bugs. A Butterfree and Beautifly both fly around playfully, darting in between trees surprising each other. Further along you see a Kricketune sparring with a Leavanny. Aside from the bugs you notice a herd of Deerling and Sawsbuck prancing along with a Stantler or two.

Eventually Pigkey jumps down from the trees. She smells the air. She looks around anxiously. She walks over towards the edge of the forest, towards some bushes. When you follow her, you spot some tan pear-shaped berries with brown spots. Excited, you reach out to grab one, but before you can separate it from its stem, the berry falls apart completely unusable. You wonder what to do next. While you're thinking you see a blue feather on the ground near the bushes. Trying a few more times results in the same mushy piles of berry on the ground. You begin to run out of ideas but luckily not the berries. You count four bushes nearby with these berries. There may be more, but they're not bearing any berries. It may behoove you, however, to know some more information about this mystery berry.

What will you do?

Charm lets out a sigh of relief, seeing their foes disposed off. Osage calmly wipes off some dust as if nothing happened. Jeez, it's alright to show some emotion sometimes, Osage, Charm thinks to himself as he looks to Pigkey, who is waving to alert them of the direction of the berries. The young trainer then glances back at the paralyzed Mightyena then to the shaking Pokeball that is trying to contain the Nidoran (F). After a few moments, a beep sounds emits from the ball, signalling that the Nidoran was successfully caught. He goes over to pick up the ball, "Awesome," he grins.

Once again realizing the situation they're in, Charm quickly shakes himself back to reality and follows Pigkey's urges. "Let's go, Osage," he tells the Sneasel, who nonchalantly follows without responding back. The Mankey climbs back up on the trees to travel easier. "Don't get too far ahead of us this time, Pigkey."

The small squad ventures through the forest for ages. Charm spots various wild Pokemon as they trod along. A Butterfree and Beautifly buzz around trees in a playful manner while a Kricketune and Leavanny spar each other. A herd of Deerling and Sawsbuck graze some grass with a few Stantler.

"There sure is a ton of different kinds of Pokemon around here," Charm notes, when not soon after Pigkey jumps back down on the ground to indicate that the berries are near. The group ends up near the edge of the forest where they see bushes of these berries. "Finally!" Charm runs over to pick up a berry. Once he picks it up, the berry falls apart and plops to the ground in mush, "What the hell?" Charm complains. Hmm, what should I do?... Huh? he spots a blue feather lying around near the bush. He goes on to pick up a couple more to only end up with the same result. Is there a Pokemon around here messing with these berries?. He thinks back to the blue feather, What Pokemon has blue feathers?... Articuno!. He immediately shrugs off the idiotic thought. Though Articuno is an Ice-type... Osage is an Ice-type too...

"Maybe we should freeze the berries so that they're solid enough to actually carry." It's not the best idea, but it's worth a shot, Charm thinks. "Osage, freeze up some of these berries with Frost Breath, please. Remember, this is to help someone else, not me... so please cooperate," Charm almost begs.

Myrrh: As Aubrey leads you back to his camp, you make some small talk. You find out he's originally from Lilycove City, but now he lives in Anville Town. He has competed in numerous contests in the Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto regions. He even won the Grand Festival in the Johto region! "Eventually I want to take on the Sinnoh region, but I really need to train harder. The current champion there, Jessica and her Delibird, are quite a strong pair," Aubrey explained. He pushes some brush aside, "Here we are." You look at his camp. There's a tent set up with a small campfire between a couple logs. "Make yourself at home."

You sit on one of the logs and relax. Aubrey hands you a plate. "Here. I don't have much in the way of food, but these Oran berries should help your Pokemon recover a bit. And for you, you like apples, right?"

"So you know how contests work right? Appeals round; then a battle round." He walks away from his tent and the campfire. "Let me show you an appeal. This was the one I used in my last doubles contest in Lavender Town."

Aubrey takes two Pokeballs from his belt. They were both different shades of blue with white. One of them had black cross-hatches over the blue, and the other had waves of darker shades of blue. He throws the wavy Dive Ball first, then the Net Ball. "Surskit! Masquerain! Center stage!" he calls out. The Dive Ball bursts open first releasing some multi-colored bubbles and finally his Surskit appears. It spins through the air and landed on its back feet and bows. The Net Ball snaps open releasing a dark net of energy, which was surrounding his Masquerain. Masquerain comes into view hovering with its wings barely flapping. Its antennae were fully stretched up so that they were against its horn. With one flap, Masquerain shifts its antennae downward and froze in the air looking like an angry pair of eyes. Masquerain's spectacle startles you a bit. Then the net energy from the Net Ball encompassed the bubbles from the Dive Ball to pop them all, before dissipating, for a pre-appeal show.

"See? Appeals aren't just about beauty," Aubrey explains. "There are all kinds of ways to show off your Pokemon's uniqueness. Now, this is the appeal that I used in the last contest I won. Surskit, release some Bubbles! Masquerain gather them up with Tailwind!" Surskit starts things off by firing off many bubbles into the air, all uniform in size. The bubbles begin to float away; but Aurbrey's Masquerain flies through the barrage of bubbles, careful not to get hit by any of them. Once it emerges to the other side of the bubble field, the red spots on its antennae begin to glow; and the wind picks up. It blows through the bubbles carrying them towards Masquerain, who seems to receive a speed boost from this wind as well. The effect of this was that Masquerain appeared to have a tail of bubbles. Every now and then rays of sunlight would get caught in the bubbles becoming spots of different colors.

"Next freeze them with a powerful Blizzard! Finally Surskit, pop them all with Swift!" Masquerain quickly circles around to get behind the newly created "bubble wind." The Eyeball Pokemon begins to glow a very light blue color. From the horn on its head, it fires a ray of ice energy into the tailwind, changing it into a powerful blizzard. The blizzard storms through the bubbles freezing them instantly. Surskit then jumps in the air and tilts to its side. It spins in the air releasing the speedy stars known as Swift. The stars all slice through the frozen bubbles. The bubbles burst into tiny ice particles; and as they fall through the air, they grab sunlight causing them to sparkle in different colors.

Finally Aubrey, Surskit, and Masquerain bow. "Beautiful as always! Thank you both." He sits on the log opposite you. His Surskit scuttles over to the log and sits on the portion furthest away from the fire. Masquerain finds a rock to rest on. "My interest in Surskit and Masquerain stemmed from watching a coordinator on TV, Drew, with his Masquerain at the Hoenn Grand Festival. That appeal was in honor of him."

Just then, the rock Masquerain was sitting on starts shifting. That startles Masquerain, who flies up to a branch to safety. Both you and Aubrey's eyes catch this, and you're surprised to see the rock grow four legs, the two front ones larger than the back two. The Dwebble under the rock looks upset at being disturbed, and it throws a rock at Aubrey hoping to smack him down to the ground. Dwebble scurries off. The rock didn't even come close to hitting him. "Going to be that way, huh?" he responds. Aubrey takes a Pokeball off his belt and throws it. "Ursaring, center stage!" Out of the Pokeball, a tall bear emerges; but this was no ordinary bear. Ursaring was black! Before you could even ask, Aubrey yells, "I'll explain later! I'm going to take care of this Dwebble!" Aubrey and Ursaring run after the Dwebble, and Masquerain follows leaving you and Aubrey's Surskit behind; the latter, who'd taken a nap.

You're put in a slightly awkward position. Stay and relax or go watch?

What will you do?

The walk back to Aubrey's campsite wasn't terribly far away and it seemed like a shorter trip than it really was thanks to all of the interesting thing he was telling Myrrh about along the way. Myrrh was amazed at how much Aubrey had traveled in pursuit of Pokemon Contest conquest and also at the mention of the current Champion of Sinnoh and her strong...Delibird? It doesn't seem to Myrrh like something that would excel in contests, but what does he know?

Shortly later they arrived at the campsite, which looked rather neat to Myrrh. It was nothing really special but he really likes being outdoors in settings like this. Myrrh placed Volts on a log beside him to sit when Aubrey offered some Oran Berries and apples.
"Ah, yes thank you that would be nice. Here Volts, but try to save some for our newly captured friend Surskit. If you can't then I guess I can give it something else that I might have. I'll take an apple, thank you."

While they ate Aubrey showed them a bit of their Pokemon Coordinator appeals. An intimidating Masquerain and a Surskit came out from his Net and Dive balls, the energy of each ball coming together to create a neat visual effect . While Volts and Myrrh ate they were treated with a beautiful display of majestic attacks and maneuvers. Volts had eaten a couple of Oran Berries while watching, but Myrrh didn't really pay attention to how many were left, if any. Myrrh had finished off the entire apple,core and all, by the time they finished.

"Wow, that was so amazing!" Myrrh and Volts' faces were beaming at Audrey and his partners.

Aubrey and his pokemon took a bow and they made their way to finally relax for a bit, he on a log, Masquerain on a rock and Surskit on a further log. "My interest in Surskit and Masquerain stemmed from watching a coordinator on TV, Drew, with his Masquerain at the Hoenn Grand Festival. That appeal was in honor of him."

"Ah, so this Drew person inspired you to try working with these specific pokemon. It's never a bad thing to get inspiration from anywhere you can..."

Suddenly the rock Masquerain was on started moving, which frightened it off onto a tree branch. The rock turned out to be a Dewbble and quickly fires off a Smack Down at Aubrey's Masquerain! It missed, but the Dwebble makes a hasty retreat afterwards. Aubrey quickly takes action, sending out a third pokemon to go after it.

"Ursaring, center stage!" It doesn't take long for Myrrh to realize Ursaring's special coloring. However, he is interrupted by Aubrey just as he was about to ask about it. "I'll explain later! I'm going to take care of this Dwebble!" He and his Ursaring were off and Masquerain quickly followed. Myrrh was about to call Volts so they could follow but then remembered about the remaining Surskit.

"Damn, if you were awake we all could have gone with them. No way I could follow Aubrey while I leave his pokemon here all alone asleep. I guess we'll wait here with his Surskit until he comes back..." There was a look of disappointment in Myrrh and Volts' faces, but they knew they had to stay behind. They poked around until they got back, wondering about the Dwebble and black Ursaring...

uhhhhh: After looking around the area, you decide the Falls is a great place to take some photos. You aim your camera at the base of the waterfall, but you decide that it won't be a great shot. Looking around again, you settle on a spot with a rock on the shore of the river a little ways downstream from the Falls. Again, you decide this shot isn't worth your time. Looking some more you spot a tree with beautiful foilage, but you decide against it because it's too far away. You see some mist coming off the Falls, but it's too close to you. The flower bush you see next is too leafy. You turn yourself around so much you wind up looking upside-down looking for the waterfall.

All the while, Gaspard is frolicking about having a great time, even snickering at you. After a few hours of no great inspiration, you put your camera away and wonder if you should move on to a different location. All of a sudden you hear a deep, loud buzzing noise. You look over and see a very large bug. After Dex'ing it you realize this Yanmega is much larger than the normal Ogre Darner. Struck with inspiration, you think what a great photo this would make, but Gaspard is having none of it! Gaspard convinces you that the Yanmega is most likely hungry and running is the best course of action.

You and Gaspard turn and hightail it out of there, and the Yanmega gives chase. It lets out a loud, "YANNNN!" as it buzzes after you. All of a sudden, the Yanmega's wings glow white, and it fires off a Sonicboom at you. The wave of energy flies over your head and off to the right. It collides with a tree, and you see that an attack from such a large Pokemon completely obliterates the tree. You are both able to dodge the large chunks of tree that fly your way with ease. Looking back at the Yanmega, you find yourself still itching with inspriation.

What wil you do?

OoC: Right, let's get this adventure back in action, shall we?

"YANNNN!"

Connor and Gaspard were both running from the Yanmega, as they saw that it was after them and was mostly likely going to make its meal. Connor couldn't help but look back at the Yanmega and would have wanted to take a pretty good picture of the Ogre Darner Pokemon. He still thought of the beautiful pictures he could have made with the giant bug... if only it was a bit more willing and less... angry. Gaspard meanwhile notices that the Yanmega's wings suddenly glow white and warns Connor.

"Aipom... Aipopopopom!" he shouts to Connor as he pointed behind him. "Wha... what are you trying to say Gaspa-" he stopped when he saw the giant Yanmega unleash a Sonicboom towards them. Connor and Gaspard were lucky enough that the Sonicboom missed them just a bit over their head and headed straight to the right... only for it to completely obliterate a tree. "Whoa!" Connor managed to duck as one of the tree chunks had almost hit his face and Gaspard jumping to avoid yet another chunk as well.

"Aw man, what do we do?!" As much as Connor really wanted to take a picture of the Ogre Darner Pokemon, he knew that there was no conceivable way that it would stop its attack and pose for the camers for him. Not to mention that running way on such a normally speedy Pokemon was useless as well. Suddenly however, he had an inspiration.

"Gaspard, this is useless. Yanmega are pretty fast folks, we can't get away from him!" his Aipom was about to say something when his partner continued, "Argh, we don't have a choice, we'll have to stop it right here and now! You up for this buddy?" Gaspard didn't have much of a choice on the matter and he knew that Connor was right on this one. He nodded and both Connor and Gaspard stopped running and turned back to face the Yanmega, "All right, here goes! Gaspard, burn it with a Fire Punch while thinking of a Nasty Plot, and unleash your Rocky Hidden Power!" as Connor gave out his commands, he took out his camera to prepare to take a shot of the Yanmega. Arceus be damned, he was going to take a picture of the giant Pokemon, one way or another.

Adventures in Astoria by Dark Searchman, Part 18

Wow, this one's at the tail end of the month. Sorry guys, this set took WAY longer for me to write than it should have. (But LoL is so fun!) So yeah, hopefully I can get to a point where I can update you soon after you reply (in the midst of all my HW and other FB stuffz), and I'll be able to churn out more stuff and get your adventures done as quickly as possible!

The Divine Woodland

Diamond Lake

Meetan –

Surskit was really feeling out of sorts by this point, so you needed to do something to stop the fever. So you offer a Casteliacone to maybe cool it back down, then have your Torchic warm it back up if it got too cold. “Hm,” the ranger ponders over your idea. “The Casteliacone will help, but a Fire attack might damage Surskit more, and we wouldn’t want that. Wait, I think I know a better way! Wartortle, I need your help!” he says before throwing out a Pokeball that unleashes a blue turtle with frilled ears and a beautiful tail. He then grabs a bucket nearby and sets it down in front of the turtle. “Okay, Wartortle, I need you to fill this bucket with your Scald attack, but try not to make the water too hot!” With that, the Wartortle spits out steaming hot water into the bucket, but when he finished the ranger put his finger into the water for a few seconds, then says, “Hm, that should be good! Try feeding Surskit your Casteliacone, then place it on this water.” You do as told, first feeding Surskit the delicious ice cream, and you can see the fever subside, but the water strider starts to shiver again. Yup, it was too cold, so you put the tips of Surskit’s legs into the warm water, and the change was almost miraculous: Surskit stopped shivering, and it didn’t look like it had a fever anymore! “Sur!” the cute water bug said, but then gave a sigh before it looked like it went to sleep. “Heh, well, looks like Surskit’s exhausted, and I don’t blame it!” the ranger chuckled before looking back to the lake. “All right, I want to see if Swellow is okay too,” he says, but when the both of you and Swinub look over to where the bird was, it was gone! “Wait, where could it be?” the ranger asks. “You knocked it out too recently for it to get up and fly away on its own!” On instinct, you take a closer look and find that instead of the limp Swellow, what took its place was this footprint:

What will Alice do to solve “The Case of the Missing Swellow”?

Magus Falls

Kaisap112 –

Uh oh, four-way rooms? This had a familiar ring to it. Now what were you going to do? Randomly going down a path was sure to spell trouble, but you were fortunate enough to get a message that hopefully clued you in on where you were supposed to go. With everything going right, you’d think the clue would start with “right”, but apparently the clue said “up” before “right”, so maybe go straight? Well, you and Minori swim down the hallway in front of you, and oh look, more hallway! There’s windows here too, showcasing the slide you came down earlier, one of them providing the only angle you need to see the fork … waaaaait a minute, this was the exact same window you were looking at before, you were sure of it! You order Minori to turn around, and sure enough you were back in the same room with the four hallways and the writing on the ceiling! Only this time, you felt that you weren’t alone…

Well, it appears you have chosen incorrectly, young traveler, a voice starts speaking to your head. You look around and ask for the presence to reveal itself, and the glowing red eyes of a Lunatone suddenly catch your eye. Perhaps I should introduce myself! the Lunatone’s voice resounds, though you’re sure Lunatone don’t talk like that. I am a Lunar Magus, and it is my sworn duty to protect this temple and the power it holds! You wish to free your friend, but I wonder if you know the difference between friend and enemy … But you chose your fate, and now you must suffer the consequences! However! If you can defeat my Lunatone that has appeared before you, I will give you one more chance to prove yourself to this temple. But fail, and your soul and those of your Pokemon will be bound to service and protection of this temple … for eternity! Yikes, that’s some pretty harsh consequences!

What will Noriko do?

Eyrie Peak

Posy Field

Jolteonjak & Son_of_Shadows –

Still in hot pursuit of a Beedrill swarm, you start to wonder if the Beedrill will get away with your friends. Fortunately, there was a shiny Numel in front of them, ready for action: Chad’s Numel. Chad calls out to Heracross so he could rejoin the group, though it wasn’t likely he’d be seen for a little while, so until then you had to make do with what you had. Fortunately, Joshua’s birds were ready to chase the swarm down and rescue their buddy Steven. Cloudy, the Swablu Joshua just sent out, was in tip-top form, and he’d be in even better shape now that he had increased his Agility and was bearing down on the kidnappers with a huge boost to his Speed. While Bishop made an effort to keep up with the younger avian, Aegis started frothing at the mouth before spitting at the Beedrill holding Teddiursa, and the Bubbles popped against its carapace causing a little damage but not nearly enough needed to force the bee to drop the bear cub. Just then the Beedrill were starting to fly past Chad’s Numel ignoring him, but as he gave a huge Yawn pink bubbles started to float towards the three Beedrill in the back of the swarm. Two of the Beedrill manage to fly out of the way, but the one holding Teddiursa flew straight into the sleep-inducing attack, forcing it and Teddiursa to get drowsy. This set the Beedrill up for Quagsire’s Mud Bomb as he spit out the attack and made it arc right over to the bee causing it to explode above it, weighing down its wings even further.

Now it was the birds’ turn to try to rescue some Pokemon. Showing off some Acrobatic skill, Cloudy rises up before swooping in with lightning speed to ram the Beedrill hard, and no item means the attack does massive damage and more importantly causes the Beedrill to drop Steven, who Cloudy deftly snatches away from the swarm before bringing the unconscious Munna back to Steven’s safe arms, then flies back to help out with Karrablast. Bishop tries to get close and unleashes an Air Slash, but the Beedrill holding Karrablast flies out of the way at the very last second. What a waste, and now Bishop was seriously getting exhausted, so there was the risk he might not be able to do much else to rescue Karrablast. At least Cloudy was on his tail! Anyway, Aegis then shoots a Water Gun which hits the Beedrill holding Teddiursa for some damage, but it does wash off some of the mud on the Beedrill, so it wasn’t weighed down as much. Quagsire also shoots a Water attack, but this one is just as Scalding hot as his last Water attack. And this one causes some lasting burns on its back, so it certainly wasn't drowsy anymore, but its grip on Teddiursa seriously slackens, though it was still barely holding on to the bear cub despite its struggling. Suddenly, you start to hear another sound of buzzing, and as you run, you look back to see Heracross flying straight towards the swarm, and catching up to you, so you had him too. You had successfully rescued Steven, but Teddiursa and Karrablast were still in trouble, and if you didn’t get them soon, the swarm would get away with their prizes!

You and the Bullwinkles weren’t quite sure how the Gastly got out of their pen, all you knew was that you needed to find them and bring them back before they wandered off too far and got lost. You weren’t quite sure where to start, but a casual glance back towards the snake pit and you suddenly smell something out of place in there. It didn’t smell serpentine at all. You couldn’t explain it, but you were somehow able to smell something different in there. While the others were busy looking in their respective areas, you carefully open the cage door and close it behind you, then follow the mysterious scent, making sure you didn’t step on or trip over any snakes slithering under you. Occasionally an Ekans or a cranky Seviper bluff-strikes at you for getting too close, but you still walk slowly towards the source of the scent, making sure not to move too suddenly so you didn’t become a pincushion for snake fangs. You then find yourself in a corner of the pit where the snakes nearby aren’t staring at you but a small puff of smoke, likely curious and/or nervous of this strange presence. You slowly reach out and grab the puff of smoke and give it a tug- “Ga!” the little Gastly cries out in surprise. That’s one! You hastily pull it into your arms just before a Seviper’s jaws closed on where the baby used to be, then slowly walk back out of the snake pit and take the little trickster to Haunter. “Nice, you found one!” Shelley points out.

Next, you find yourself at the Stunky and Skuntank’s pen, and it was a lot harder to smell anything other than Skunk Pokemon. It wasn’t until you looked past the overpowering odor that you could see another Gastly playing with a couple of baby Stunky. Phew, this would be a nightmare! You quickly rush in, grab the Gastly, and run as far away from there as you possibly could before taking the second baby to her mother; even though you had a Skuntank and could handle her scent, a whole family of skunks was still unbearable! Another stinkfest awaited as you then found yourself in front of the pen for Trubbish and Garbodor. Sigh, you could spend hours just sitting here seeing the Trubbish play with the trash toys, each other, the little puff ball right in the mid- Wait a minute, you’d seen that before … #3! You try and gently tug the puffball away from the baby Trubbish that was playing with it, but it didn’t want to give it up … at least until the puffball turned into its Gastly form and scared the poor thing, making it cry and run to its mommy. Aw…

Anyway, you return the Gastly to its mommy and see if you can help OMZ ROXIE!!! –ahem, look for the other two. Ah, Roxie… she looks so cute with her outfit and her pink puffballs on her head. Pink puffballs!? You reach out to grab the puffballs … and they’re regular puffballs. “Ga!” “Ga!” the two puffballs cry out. The last two! “Uh … wow, I’m impressed!” Roxie says to you. “You found all the Gastly when we’d normally take hours to find them! I can’t figure out how you did it!” Roxie’s impressed??? Oh wowwwww… So you take the last two Gastly to the worried Haunter, and … well, she’s not so worried anymore! You suddenly feel her floating hands push you towards her from behind until your body is pressed against her happy, ghostly face. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you soooooooooooo much!” you find yourself able to perfectly understand what the mother Haunter says as she gives your entire body a big, wet Lick out of gratitude, to which Roxie and the others laugh. She then lets go of your body and uses her hands to herd her children back into their home, but you could swear that she winked at you just before the door closed on the Ghost Pokemon.

“Haha, that momma Haunter has her hands full with those kids of hers, and for you to find them all by yer lonesome is some feat! No wonder she likes ya!” Shelley says, her face beaming as well. “Well, I think you should be rewarded too! And no, it ain’t a kiss, I wouldn’t want Haunter ta get jealous!” she quips before going over to a basket and removing something from it. Once she returns to you she reveals what it is: “Here, take this! It’s a Yellow Apricorn, you can use that to make a Moon Ball so you can catch Pokemon that evolve when exposed to Moon Stones. Like the Nidoran over there!” She points over to the stables noted earlier. “You wanna go see ‘em?” Rebecca chimes in. “They’ve also got a special place for their Bug-types that’s separate from the barn here,” Roxie added. “I’d actually like to go there, it’s almost feeding time for the Scolipede and Ariados families!” It’d be a little while before Bo and Sally come back, so you could choose: hang out with ROXIEEEE!!! –uh, some more, or go see the Nidoran, they were certainly Pokemon you weren’t familiar with.

What will Keith do?

The Burial Ground

Marion Ette –

Some abilities were much easier to abuse than others. Necromancy? Well, it just screams, “Hey, here I am, use me in whatever way you want!” When Priscilla brought up how you might be able to learn necromancy, you had a few wild imaginations, but it then seemed all too obvious to you how that kind of thinking was exactly how to misuse such a power. At the same time, you could see Priscilla’s drive to learn this magic, and you couldn’t help but give her your encouragement. “Really? You mean that? Thank you so much! Now that I know I don’t just have my sisters supporting me, I’ll be sure to give it my all!” she responds with gratitude.

Oh, and by the way, your research discovered something really unusual. Instead of regular nuclei controlling these cells, there were … toxins. Poisons, somehow framing the structure of these cells. Necromancy with a handicap … how ingenious. But maybe you could stop it! True, it would mean you would lose your discovery, but it was probably better this science didn’t fall into the wrong hands. Anyway, you start to focus. If Giratina be willing, you would be able to manipulate these biohazards enough that you would be able to break them down. When you figured you had focused enough, you looked back into the microscope and let your eye focus on breaking down the internal structure. You stare at it for five minutes … ten … 20 … a half hour … nothing. It just wasn’t going to move, you figured, not by your power at least. No, wait! The toxin started to move! Perhaps it was starting to get affected by your power?

Another half hour passes, and your back starts to ache, but still you maintain focus. The “nucleus” you were focusing on soon starts to move some more, and then the toxin’s structure started to change. Its structure became completely different, and you wondered if this was the toxin’s way of adapting to your strategy, or if this was how it started to break down. Suddenly, the other cells notice the change. Some start changing with the first one, but the others react violently to the ones that do. A cellular battle takes place, and the cells start dying, one after the other, until none remained. The toxic cells were completely neutralized within minutes. You share your discovery with Priscilla, and she says, “Wow, I can’t believe it, you figured out how to beat my sisters, right? But it looked like that took lots of time to do, right? Maybe you should take the time to practice, k? We can help provide food for you while you work on your spell, k? I can’t believe you’re already learning necromancy!”

**********

A few days pass, and you refused to leave the depths of the dank cave as you tried this with your other samples, lessening the time little by little; by then Sangre had fully recovered and was content to watch you from the ceiling of the cave, leaving occasionally to hunt (was that… an Ekans rattle hanging out of his mouth?), but always returning to your side. It’s been a few weeks now, and the time it takes for the cells to break down becomes less and less until you were ultimately able to render a large set of toxins useless within a few minutes. It was surprising how you were kept so well hidden during this time, but ultimately you were given the time to perfect this technique! Well, as perfect as a novice could get it, anyway. You still needed a strategy to face Maura and Anastasia; even with this ability of yours it would take some time before the spell started to take effect, meaning you would need time to cast it in order for it to work on all of the minions the ghosts summon.

It was time to discuss things with Priscilla and the others, so what sort of plan would Marion come up with?

Uh oh, four-way rooms? This had a familiar ring to it. Now what were you going to do? Randomly going down a path was sure to spell trouble, but you were fortunate enough to get a message that hopefully clued you in on where you were supposed to go. With everything going right, you’d think the clue would start with “right”, but apparently the clue said “up” before “right”, so maybe go straight? Well, you and Minori swim down the hallway in front of you, and oh look, more hallway! There’s windows here too, showcasing the slide you came down earlier, one of them providing the only angle you need to see the fork … waaaaait a minute, this was the exact same window you were looking at before, you were sure of it! You order Minori to turn around, and sure enough you were back in the same room with the four hallways and the writing on the ceiling! Only this time, you felt that you weren’t alone…

Well, it appears you have chosen incorrectly, young traveler, a voice starts speaking to your head. You look around and ask for the presence to reveal itself, and the glowing red eyes of a Lunatone suddenly catch your eye. Perhaps I should introduce myself! the Lunatone’s voice resounds, though you’re sure Lunatone don’t talk like that. I am a Lunar Magus, and it is my sworn duty to protect this temple and the power it holds! You wish to free your friend, but I wonder if you know the difference between friend and enemy … But you chose your fate, and now you must suffer the consequences! However! If you can defeat my Lunatone that has appeared before you, I will give you one more chance to prove yourself to this temple. But fail, and your soul and those of your Pokemon will be bound to service and protection of this temple … for eternity! Yikes, that’s some pretty harsh consequences!

What will Noriko do?

Going with Noriko's guess, she and Minori swam along the corridor straight ahead. After a few minutes, Noriko saw sight of more hallway - great! There were also windows, showing a slide forking in multiple directions...

"Uh, Minori, is it just me or have we seen that slide before?" The Seel nodded. Noriko sighed. "Well, I was never really good at puzzles anyway. Let's just turn back for now." Suddenly Noriko had a bad feeling. Indeed, they were exactly where they had started off from, with the scripture high on the ceiling. But something was definitely different this time around -

Well, it appears you have chosen incorrectly, young traveler, a voice started speaking directly in Noriko's head. Magus and magic and voices in her head? That particular combination wasn't exactly something she'd been looking forward to experiencing. "Is someone here? Show yourself, I'm not comfortable talking to walls." As if in reply to her words, a pair of red lights appeared in the room. Soon enough a crescent shape began to form from the darkness. Noriko recognized the creature as a Lunatone, but despite its psychic abilities, Noriko was fairly certain Lunatones didn't talk in a manner quite like this. So something or someone else was doing the talking through it, most likely...

"Who are you, exactly?"

Perhaps I should introduce myself! I am a Lunar Magus, and it is my sworn duty to protect this temple and the power it holds! You wish to free your friend, but I wonder if you know the difference between friend and enemy … But you chose your fate, and now you must suffer the consequences! However! If you can defeat my Lunatone that has appeared before you, I will give you one more chance to prove yourself to this temple. But fail, and your soul and those of your Pokemon will be bound to service and protection of this temple … for eternity!

Well, at least a Pokémon battle Noriko could handle - or so she hoped. "I accept the challenge. For this fight I will choose..." She briefly thought about sending out Kek, her Cacnea, but the water level was a bit too high and she didn't want her friend to drown by accident. It didn't take her long to reach a conclusion. "Minori. It's your show, no one else can do this." Minori nodded with a serious look on his face, trying to analyze his opponent. Water was his territory though, which gave a boost to his confidence. Noriko dismounted Minori, shivering from the coldness of the water before declaring her commands. "Minori, let's start with Surf, then I need you to Dive underwater from its reach. Once you attack it, follow up with Aqua Tail!"